The Road
by itsYOUiSEVER
Summary: She stood above his bleeding body and looked down at him, a blank expression on her face. "What was it you said to me Joe before you left me to die? 'We are gonna leave you here because you don't deserve a quick death after what you've done. You deserve to die slowly and as painfully as possible.' I didn't die Joe. I lived. I proved you wrong." Rick/OC
1. Prologue

**The Road**

_Summary_

_She stood above his bleeding body and looked down at him, a blank expression on her face. "What was it you said to me Joe before you left me to die? 'We are gonna leave you here because you don't deserve a quick death after what you've done. You deserve to die slowly and as painfully as possible.' I didn't die Joe. I lived. I proved you wrong." She then raised Rick's python, pointed it squarely at his forehead and pulled the trigger._

**_Prologue_**

"Laney, sweetheart. You and I are gonna play a game, okay?"_ Her mother's voice echoed through her head as she darted between the barren trees of the dense forest. The cool crisp air whipped against her skin and razor-sharp branches snapped against her face and arms creating fine cuts across her wind-battered skin._ "You are gonna hide in your room. You are gonna be as quiet as a mouse, okay? You don't come out until I find you, do you understand?" _Alana wished she had listened to her mother that day and not wandered from her room when she heard a struggle and loud voices coming from outside her bedroom. If she had just done that she wouldn't have witnessed her mother getting shot in the head at point blank range. She wouldn't have seen her mother's blood and brains splattered across the living room carpet._

_Her legs pounded against the forest floor, her breath left her lungs in short and raspy bursts, and her body was buzzing with adrenaline like a drug coursing through her veins. She could feel branches catch in her curly brown hair but she didn't care. All she wanted was to get the hell out of there. She could feel cold fingers trying to grasp at her neck like a ghost that she wanted to be rid of. The feeling made her look over her shoulder to peer at the part of the forest she was leaving behind and she didn't like what she saw behind her at all. The very ghost she wished to escape from was right there running after her._

"You were claimed, 'Lana. What don'cha understand 'bout that, huh?" _Joe's haunting voice rang through her entire body sending her into a state of complete panic. She pushed herself to run even faster in an effort to keep herself away from him. Away from that pain._ "You belong to us, 'Lana. You ain't going nowhere." _She could still feel their filthy hands across her skin, caressing and stroking places she hadn't wanted them anywhere near but she had had to let them do what they wanted with her in order to survive. There was no other way._ "This how you treat your family, 'Lana. This how you repay the people who have kept you alive this long, huh? You think because you were claimed that we won't punish you when we see fit?" _She flinched sharply at those words because she knew what had come after that._ The necessary pain._ The pain that had left her back riddled with thick roping scars._

"We are gonna leave you here because you don't deserve a quick death after what you've done. You deserve to die slowly and as painfully as possible." _She could feel the cool metal of the handcuffs she had dreaded seeing nip at her wrists as Joe's last words to her bounced around her skull. She remembered the beating they had all given her before Joe had collapsed those cuffs around her wrists tethering her to that godforsaken house where she had been sure she would starve to death. She would have starved if Glenn and Maggie hadn't decided to search the abandoned house for supplies. She had been on the edge of death when Glenn had broken down the front door and Maggie had run in with her machete ready to sink into any Walkers that the house may have held._

_The air in her lungs rushed out of her as her foot caught on an upturned root causing her entire body to lurch forward sending her tumbling down a steep hill into a small creek at the base of the hill. Her bones popped and groaned as she slammed into the muddy floor of the creek basin. A thick layer of frigid mud covered her clothes weighing her down. She coughed loudly with chest-heaving barks that made her sound like she had bronchitis. She rolled onto her side and tried to regain her breath._

_As soon as she had managed to regain her breath, a hand wrapped around her throat and pulled her up to her feet only to dangle her toes a couple inches from the ground just torture her. Her hands instinctively went and wrapped around the hand slowly collapsing her esophagus trying to loosen the grip even just a little. Her eyes frantically looked around for anything that she could use to save herself but came face to face with Joe who was standing off in the distance watching the life being choked out of her. Her gaze snapped back to her attacker and all she saw was anger. The same anger she saw the night her mother died right in front of her._

_There wasn't a face in front of her, only gray eyes filled with hatred and rage. Then she felt Joe's hands running along the length of her body, grabbing and caressing every inch of her, causing her to whimper out of fear. "You don't get to die so quickly on me, 'Lana. I just got you back and I have so much more tricks I can pull." Joe growled into her ear as the man in front of her slowly set her down on her feet only to have Joe slam her back down into the mud. He kept her pinned to the ground with a knee to the middle of her chest and swiftly pulled out a knife that had been hanging from his belt. "Nice and slow. That sound good to you, 'Lana. Just like what you did to Tate." Alana desperately tried to wiggle her way out from under his knee but with every twitch of her body, he dug it further into her sternum. "Please..." She begged but it only provoked him further and she screamed bloody murder when he dragged the blade of the knife across her right arm from the shoulder to the palm of her hand._

"'Lana, wake up." _She writhed and cried out as Joe carved into her skin like she was a marble or wood sculpture to be chiseled at._ "'Lana, c'mon wake up."_ His maniacal laughter floated into her ears as she began to slip out of consciousness._ "You were claimed, 'Lana. What don'cha understand 'bout that, huh?"

Alana shot up in her bunk, breathing heavily, clutching at her chest, eyes wide with fear. She screamed at the top of her lungs when a hand grabbed onto her ankle. She didn't even look to see who had grabbed her, she just reacted. The grip had frightened her, reminding her of Joe and his group's grubby hands. She immediately started kicking and scratching at the owner of the hand which caused her to fall off the bunk.

The same hands then tried to help her up but she wanted them off her. She shoved the person as hard as she could against the wall of the cell and screamed in anguish at them as she repeatedly slammed their head into the concrete structure. She could hear people yelling at her but she wasn't listening to them. Joe needed to pay. He needed to feel the same pain she had been dealt. She wanted vengeance.

Tears streamed down her freckled cheeks and deep chest-wrenching sobs echoed from her. She heard her name being called but she didn't look to see who it was. She kept slamming Joe's head against the concrete. It wasn't until two sets of arms pulled her from him that she really got a look at who she had been attacking. _Zach_. Beth's boyfriend. She had been bashing his head against the cell wall, not Joe's. She fought against the arms that were pulling her out of the cell that she and Beth shared. Angry tears formed in her eyes and she screamed in rage as she was pushed against the wall between her cell and the next one.

"Alana, yah need to calm yerself." Rick gritted those words into her ear as he bent so he was right up against the left side of her head. His voice was laced with frustration, most likely from getting woken up in the middle of the night by her screams, and there was a soothing essence to his words. His voice was different than Joe's to her ears. Rick's voice didn't hold the malice that Joe's did. Alana didn't heed Rick's words though and instead thrashed about only to end up smacking her forehead against the concrete wall hard enough that a small stream of blood flowed from the wound. "I told yah to calm down, Alana." Rick growled into her ear as she looked over her shoulder at him.

The pair locked eyes, vibrant green clashed with pure blue, and that was when Alana saw Daryl and Tyresse carrying Zach out of the cell. She could see the damage she had done to his skull, the blood that trickled down the back of his neck soaking the back of his shirt with warm blood. She also could see members of the group looking at her in fear like she was some sort of monster. She wasn't a monster. Joe was the _monster_. They didn't understand that. They didn't know what he had done to her and let the others in his group do to her. No one understood it.

Alana turned her gaze back to the concrete wall in front of her and lightly rested her forehead against it being sure to keep the massive goose egg she had given herself didn't hit the cool structure. Tears welled up in her eyes and she just lost it. Her legs gave out underneath her and she fell to her knees in gut-wrenching sobs that shook her entire body. She leaned heavily against the wall and clutched her hands around the bars of the two cells, looking for any solidity she could find. Her sobs and tears continued for sometime before she felt a hand hesitantly clasp her shoulder. She stiffens at the contact but doesn't turn around or look up at the person.

"C'mon, Alana. Let's get yah cleaned up." Rick rasped softly at her as she felt his hands move under her arms to pull her up to her feet. She let him pull her to up and leaned against him as he directed her toward his cell. Rick had never scared Alana. He had never really intimidated her, not like Joe and them had. Rick reminded her of an old guard dog. He was broken and beaten down but he would protect his people at all costs. "'m sorry." Alana whispered bashfully to him as he wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her arm around his shoulders. She could practically hear him shaking his head in disapproval at her. "Got nothin' tah be sorry 'bout, Alana. Everyone has nightmares. Its how we know we haven't gone completely nuts." Rick reassured her as she looked up at his face and gazed at him, taking in his features.

He looked worse for wear that was for sure. His beard was thick, sprinkled with salt and pepper hairs and it made him look almost twice his actual age. His face wore the markers of someone in their late forties, crow's feet embroidered the edges of his eyes that held large dark bags underneath them from sleepless nights where he ended up taking a double watch shift. His exposed skin was tanned from the work he did in the field with all the crops and animals while the skin hidden underneath his tattered and beaten button up shirts, that had once been a completely different color but had been stained with dirt and grime, was sickly pale. His body showed signs of overexertion. The burdens of past decisions weighed him down and the lives of those his group had lost echoed through his mind. Alana could see through the strong facade he put on. Inside he was eating himself alive with guilt.

Rick ushered her into his cell and sat her down on the bottom bunk just a few feet from the mailbox that had become Judith's crib. He peered into the small container to check on Judith and saw that she had slept through all the chaos that had just occurred. "I'll be right back. 'M gonna get some cloth from Hershel to clean yer head wound." Rick told her as she nodded her head at him and gazed over at Judith who was sleeping peacefully, slightly cooing in her slumber. Alana watched Rick leave the cell out of the corner of her eye and was very surprised when he had no hesitation about leaving her alone with Judith.

Alana felt restless waiting for Rick to return after about five minutes of sitting quietly on the bottom bunk so she decided to look around his cell. It was a simple cell. Bunk bed, toilet, sink, mirror and a cell door. Rick had added little personal effect to it, not like Beth had. The only thing that stood out in the cell was Judith's _Little Asskicker_ crib.

Alana sighed in frustration as more time passed and Rick still remained to make his appearance. She brought her hand up to touch the raw part of her forehead that throbbed with each pulse of blood through her veins. It had gushed out a fair amount of blood, not nearly enough to make her pass out but enough to ruin the shirt she was wearing. Knowing that the shirt pretty much had no use, Alana pulled the shirt over her head and decided to rip it into strips of cloth for Hershel to use. Unfortunately for Alana the ripping of her shirt had been enough noise to startle Judith awake.

Alana dared herself to approach the crying infant and was surprised to find Judith staring up at her just watching her like she was Judith's favorite person. Alana had half the time to call the small human bi-polar at how quickly she had gone from crying to cooing up at her. The little girl was looking up at her expectantly as if she were trying to say_ are you gonna pick me up or not?_ Alana was hesitant to even move right next to the girl not knowing exactly how Rick would respond to her close proximity to his child but when Judith started giggling and reached her arms out at Alana, clenching and unclenching her chubby little hands in the air, Alana smiled and scooped the girl up in her arms.

Judith looked up at Alana and gently pressed her chubby fist into Alana's collarbone. The curious little creature's eyes sparkled with glee and were the purest shade of blue just like her father and her brother. Her wispy brown hair reminded Alana of her brother's messy mop although Judith's was a significantly lighter shade of brown. She gurgled and babbled up at Alana as if she was trying to tell her something. Alana smiled down at the little girl and held her finger out for Judith to grasp onto which she took eagerly and brought Alana's finger up to her mouth to suckle on.

It was then that Alana almost broke down crying. The innocence Judith radiated made Alana sad because she knew that in the world that they lived in, people took advantage of that. Innocence got a person killed real quickly, that or it got them scarred for life with the things that the sick bastards of this world did to them. Alana held Judith close to her chest and gently rocked her back and forth trying to keep herself from completely losing it. A few rogue tears rolled down her cheeks and fell down onto Judith's pale yellow onesie. Alana almost jumped out of her skin when she heard a throat clear behind her.

She turned around just slightly to look over her shoulder at whoever stood in the cell doorway and saw Rick standing there with a bucket of what Alana assumed to be water in one hand, rubbing alcohol and some rags in the other. Alana stared at him with wide eyes afraid that he might throw her out for picking up Judith without permission especially after her little episode. "I accidentally woke her up and she started crying. I didn't know what to do so I picked up her. 'M sorry." She said bashfully as she went to set Judith down by her stack of red solo cups but was stopped by a hand to her upper left arm. Alana looked up and saw Rick looking at her with compassion in his eyes, almost an understanding. "It's okay, Alana. Yah did the right thin'. Besides she seems to really be enjoyin' herself with yah." Rick told her with an amused tone to his voice and a gentle smile on his face. Alana then stood back up and shifted Judith in her arms. Rick smiled broadly when Judith squealed at him and yanked on a tendril of Alana's curly dark brown causing her to cry out and laugh at the infant. Rick helped Alana pry her hair from Judith's vice grip and gently took the squirming creature from Alana's arms. He then set her down next to her beloved cups and pressed a kiss to her hair before standing back up and turning towards Alana gesturing for her to sit back down on the bunk.

Alana did what Rick asked of her and waited patiently as she got himself situated on a stool in front of her with the bucket of water at his feet one the opposite side to Judith so she wouldn't be tempted to drench herself from head to toe. Rick set the rags and rubbing alcohol on the bunk next to Alana and took her chin between his fingers so he could examine her self inflicted goose egg. "What's the verdict, sheriff?" Alana jokingly asked after a few minutes of Rick poking and prodding the bump on her forehead. Rick chuckled at her title for him and leaned in to grab the rubbing alcohol and rags. "Yah got yerself pretty good there, Alana. Gonna hurt like hell tomorrow. That's fer sure." Rick replied as he poured a small amount of rubbing alcohol on one of the rags and began to gently dab it on her bump. Alana flinched when the rubbing alcohol stung her wound and inhaled sharply.

"Zach gonna be okay?" She asked sheepishly as Rick stopped when he was doing and looked her straight in the eyes. Alana regretted her question after that and wanted to go find a hole to hide herself in until she died of embarrassment. "Yeah, yah really did a number on him but he's gonna live. Kid's got a thick skull," Rick tried to make things light but Alana only felt worse about what she had done. "Yah want tah talk 'bout what happened, Alana?" Alana immediately responded with a subtle shake of her head and Rick just went straight back to work on her head. They sat there in silence for a while before Alana spoke softly.

"I had a nightmare," She started to say as Rick set down the rag in his head and gave her his full attention. "I was with a group before you guys found me. You already know that but you don't know what they were like. I was their play toy. I was claimed," She said as she clenched her hands into fists and squeezed her eyes shut trying to get the images of what Joe and them had done to her out of her head. Alana's eyes snapped open when she felt a calloused hand clasp one of her fists in a soothing gesture. Rick was looking at her with empathy written on his face, not sympathy like every other person would have looked at her. "I had disobeyed them about a month or so before Glenn and Maggie had found me. I had had enough of being a possession and I killed one of them when they tried to get me to..." She choked on her words as a sob formed in her throat. Rick moved closer to her then, took her hands in his own and brought her hands up to his face gently pressing a soft kiss to her knuckles.

"Yah are safe, Alana. They won't get anywhere near yah again. I promise." He told her as he looked her straight in the eyes and gently wiped her tears from her cheeks. "How can you say that, Rick? You don't know what will happen." She asked him softly as he smiled at her. "Yah just gotta trust me, Alana. Can yah do that for me?" He said as he let go of her hands and gently cradled her head in his hands forcing her to look him in the eyes. "Okay." She whispered to him as he gently leaned his forehead against hers and gazed into her eyes for a minute or so until Judith decided she needed to go back to sleep and began crying.

Rick stood up from the stool and gently scooped Judith up cradling her close to his chest, causing the little girl to lean into him and coo quietly while sucking on her chubby fist. Alana watched as Rick transformed right before her eyes from a hardened man to a loving father in less than three seconds. She could hear him softly murmuring at Judith as he rocked her back and forth and gently stroked her face. He looked so natural and at home cradling a small human being to him.

He glanced over at Alana who felt slightly embarrassed getting caught basking in awe of him and he smiles at her before walking so he stood right in front of her. "I'm gonna take her to Beth and see if she can get Li'l Asskicker tah sleep here. I'll be right back. Go ahead and take the bottom bunk. I'll take the top." Rick softly spoke to her as Judith waved her fist at Alana. She nodded her head at him and moved the supplies Rick had brought into the cell off the bunk gently pushing it under the bunk so Rick didn't trip on it when he came back to the cell after dropping Judith off. She laid herself out on the bunk and pulled the blanket, which had been bunched up at the end of the bed, over her body before she pulled her knees up so she was curled into a fetal position. Rick then bent down so he and Judith loomed over Alana and he smiled at her. "Say goodnight to Alana, Judy." Rick cooed as he held Judith close enough so she could press a sloppy open mouthed kiss to Alana's cheek making her laugh. "Night, Sunshine." Alana whispered as she gently caressed Judith's cheek and smiled up at Rick.

She laid there on the bunk staring at the blank wall, just contemplating why this group had even allowed her to stay with them with how messed up she was. Then again the whole world was messed up and twisted in ways that would have made the five o'clock news if the world hadn't gone to shit. Her scars screamed and cried out to people, practically shouting at them that she had been through hell and that there was a high likelihood that she wasn't all there. Her hand subconsciously drifted to one of her roping thick scars across her back and she gently stroked them as memories of how they came to be flooded back to her. She could feel the belt snapping against her back ripping and tearing the delicate skin of her back like a dog tore through a steak. She could see the look Joe had in his eyes as he inflicted this tremendous pain on her. Her hands clenched tightly into fists as the wave of pain she had once felt flowed over her again like she had been whipped all over again. Her back burned with a blazing fire, her eyes filled with tears and her lungs struggled to catch any oxygen. She began to slowly hyperventilate and that was how Rick found her, curled up in the fetal position clutching one hand to her chest and the other against the scar that blemished her shoulder blade struggling to even inhale.

Rick dropped to his knees in front of her as soon as he entered the cell. She could see his lips moving but heard no sound coming them and the moment his hand came into contact with her shoulder, Alana sprang up from the bunk and practically hurled herself at him. He let out a low _umph_ as his butt slammed against the floor and his back hit the cell wall. Alana clung to him like a baby monkey clings to its mother. She held onto him as if he were her lifeline. Her hot tears dribbled onto his gray T-shirt and her sobs echoed through his throat and shoulder. At first he sat with her straddling his lap rigid and unresponsive until she rubbed her face into the juncture between his shoulder and his throat only to start sobbing again with thick heart wrenching sobs that caused Rick to wrap his arms tightly around her practically swaddling her like a baby. And that was how they both fell asleep, wrapped up in each other's arms, emotionally drained and exhausted.

A soft light fluttered into Rick's cell the next morning causing Alana to wake from the warmth that spread across her body. She opened her eyes to find herself laying on the bottom bunk and Rick was nowhere to be seen. She worried that she may have freaked him out by throwing herself at him last night but she had just needed to feel arms around her that she knew were safe. She swung her legs out and sat herself up on the bunk before she rubbed her eyes with the back of her hands. She looked out the cell door and saw Beth standing over by the barred windows holding a babbling Judith to her chest as the infant fiddled with the baby toy in her hands occasionally hitting Beth in the throat with the toy but the young blonde only smiled down at Judith, she never lost her temper no matter how many times Judith whacked her. Alana then stood up from the bunk and was about to walk out of the cell when she realized that she only had her black tank top on and she didn't want people seeing her scars. She looked around Rick's cell for anything she could possibly use to cover up the ropes of scars on her back and her eyes fell on one of Rick's three-quarter length button up shirt balled up in a heap in the far corner of the cell. Alana knew that that would have to do and she walked over to swoop down and pick it up. She pulled the shirt on over her shoulders and laughed at how the shirt seemed three times too big when in reality Rick wasn't that much taller or bigger than her. She knew that she had lost _a lot_ of weight since the beginning of all this but seeing exactly how much she had lost was pretty scary. She let the shirt fall against her frame and didn't even bother to button it up, she just let it fall loosely.

As she turned and exited the cell, Beth looked back at her over her shoulder and Alana stopped right in her tracks. She half expected the blonde to avoid her and loathe her for what she had done to Zach but she was very much surprised when Beth began to walk towards her with Judith squealing at the sight of Alana. "How are you doing?" Beth asked her as she stopped in front of her, Judith was being as loud as she possibly could wanting Alana's attention on her and not Beth. Tears welled up in Alana's eyes at Beth's words. Beth wasn't mad at her, she wasn't holding this grudge against her, she was genuinely concerned for Alana. "I am fine. Rick patched me up last night," Alana bashfully replied not able to meet Beth's eyes. Part of her was worried that Beth's words and her eyes would be telling completely different stories. "'m sorry, Beth. I - I didn't mean to hurt him." She could hear Beth shaking her head at her but she didn't know if she was shaking her head because Alana sounded really stupid apologizing to her about this or if Beth just couldn't believe the nerve she had thinking that she could forgive her so quickly. "It's okay, Alana. You didn't mean to. I don't hold it against you at all." Beth spoke to her softly, almost soothingly as if she knew exactly what Alana needed to hear. At that point Alana looked straight at Beth and saw the soft smile that Beth's lips were curled up into. Alana then stepped towards Beth and gently wrapped her arms around the blonde momentarily squishing Judith between them who thought it was the funniest thing ever. "Thank you, Beth." She whispered to the teen.

The two of them stepped back from each other and both of them had bold smiles on their faces. "Do you know where Rick is at?" Alana asked Beth as she moved into Rick's cell to grab out Judith's cups. "He should be up in the closest guard tower on watch with Daryl." Beth told her as she thanked Beth again and walked towards the cell block doors. Once outside, Alana was flooded with the sweet warmth of the sun which caused her to sigh deeply. It wasn't quiet outside like it had been in the cell block. People were busy, moving and working together. She looked up at the guard tower Beth had told her Rick and Daryl should have been doing their watch in and she saw Rick and Daryl leaning against the railing on the deck of the guard tower. Daryl had his crossbow propped up against the railing by his feet while Rick had a hunting rifle resting near his feet. She wondered exactly how she should go about talking to Rick. She wondered if she should just wait till his shift was over, if she should just walk right up there, or if she should just let him find her later. She really didn't have much choice in the matter when she heard someone call her name and looked up to see Rick smiling down at her waving her to come up. She waved back up at him and made her way to the base of the guard tower opening the door before she hesitantly walked inside and jogged her way up the stairs.

When she got to the top of the stairs, Rick was waiting inside the guard tower conference room with a smile on his face like she hadn't practically jumped him the other night. "G'morning, Alana." Rick greeted her as she moved across the room towards the door leading out to the deck. She returned his _G'morning_ and waved at Daryl who was lounging against the railing as she walked out there with Rick. Alana saw Daryl leave the guard tower out of the corner of her eye giving her and Rick some space to talk to each other. Rick leaned against the railing beside Alana and smiled up at her. "I just wanted to thank you for everything last night. I wasn't in the best state of mind and I am sorry for jumping you." She apologized to him as he laughed at her choice of words and put a comforting hand on her shoulder. "Don't gotta apologize for anything, Alana. Yah needed help and that's what I did. No need to be ashamed of needing someone to lean on." Rick told her as she looked out at the field where Hershel and Carl were tending to the crops and animals. Alana knew she could trust Rick but she didn't know how he would react to her past. So she took a leap of faith and trusted that he wouldn't see her any different than he did before he heard her story.

"My mother was murdered in front of me when I was about six years old. The man had been wanting to rob us and my mother had heard him breaking into our house. My dad had been working a late shift at the precinct and wasn't home. My mother pulled me into my bedroom and told me that we were going to be playing a game of hide and seek. She left and I didn't listen to her. I walked out of my room and watched that man blow my mother's brains out all over our carpet. He never saw me. He just ran after he killed my mother," Alana told Rick as he gazed at the young blonde searching her face for the emotions that couldn't be picked out in her cold distant voice. He could see the agony in her face, the sorrow and pain that shown in her eyes and the anger she felt towards the man who had taken her mother from her. "When my dad and the police managed to get to our house, I was seated cross-legged by my mother staring down at her, calling her name. I didn't understand at that point in time that she was gone. I took me 'til her funeral for it to actually hit me and I lost it," Rick looked at her with empathy, knowing what it was like to lose someone who meant so much to you. She leaned more heavily against the railing in front of her and looked down at the fields at everyone who was working down there.

"I dreamt about her last night. I heard her voice and I saw that man kill her again. I don't want to be weak anymore, Rick. I want to be strong." Alana pleaded with Rick as tears leaked from the corners of her eyes and tumbled down her face. Rick then took a step towards her and gently placed a hand on her forearm. Her head quickly snapped to look at him and she saw what she needed in him. Strength despite the losses he had faced.

She wanted that. She wanted to be strong despite what had happened to her. She pleaded with him without words but with her eyes, her big pale blue eyes that shined with big gut-wrenching tears and he couldn't stop himself from gathering her up in his arms clutching her to his lean body. She sobbed into his shoulder, gripping the shirt that adorned his back tightly in her hands and kept repeated the words, "Make me strong, please." His hands alternated between stroking the back of her head to rubbing smooth circles around her back and just his touch brought Alana comfort. "Yah are strong, Alana. Yah wouldn't have been able to survive all that if yah weren't." Rick whispered to her as she burrowed her face further into his shoulder trying to get away from everything.

She held onto him like he was her rock, her only source of hope and strength. He said she was strong but right then and there she felt anything but that. She didn't feel like she had been strong letting those men do what they wanted with her body. She felt weak for not fighting back. She had just laid there and let them violate her in every way possible. How was that strong?

Alana moved her head away from Rick's neck and looked up at him with a questioning expression on her face. "How am I strong, Rick? How am I strong for letting those men.." She began to ask as Rick shook his head at her and leaned down to rest his forehead down against her own. "Yah are strong. I wouldn't be standin' here holdin' onto yah if yah weren't. Yah did what yah had tah tah survive. We all have done stuff tah survive we maybe aren't very proud of but in this world we are forced tah do things that we wouldn't have even thought of doing before everythin' went tah shit," Rick said to her as she tried to keep herself from bursting into gut-wrenching sobs. "Yah are the strongest person I have ever met. Yah survived all that shit, yah can survive anythin'." Rick then let his hands rest on the sides of her face and gently wiped the tears from her cheeks. She didn't reply or anything. All she did was let his words repeat in her head.

_Yah are the strongest person I have ever met. Yah survived all that shit, yah can survive anythin'._

She didn't know why but in that moment she believed him.

**Author's Note:**

**That was the first chapter of my Rick/OC fan fiction! I hope you liked it! Tell me what you think about it in a comment! I'd love to hear what your thoughts, concerns or questions are. Constructive criticism is welcomed but please no flames! I hope you enjoyed and until next time! **

**I will post updates and little previews of chapters on my tumblr so if you want to be able to see those follow my tumblr itsYOUiSEVER **

**Thanks for reading!**

**Love, **

**Kayla or itsYOUiSEVER**


	2. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

**That first chapter, well the prologue was something I had been working on for a while and had kind of wandered away from it and when I came across the draft the other day, I found my muse and finished it! Whoop whoop! A few pieces of information you guys may want about this story is that the prologue took place about three, four weeks before season 4. This chapter takes place during 30 Days Without an Accident. I will be trying to keep the story along the lines of the show because I love the storyline of the show and stuff but I will be taking creative liberty and changing bits and pieces to fit my story. I will try to keep the characters as close to themselves as possible and if you as readers feel that characters are become out of character, I'd appreciate it if you guys let me know nicely!**

**I also have a song that is sort of the inspiration for this story and I listened to it on repeat while writing the prologue. The song is Big Bad Wolf by In This Moment. For me the song kind of represented the internal struggle that Alana has with herself over who she is; the submissive little girl that Joe and the Claimers forced her to be or the strong but vulnerable woman that she is becoming. You guys should really check the song out! ****This chapter's song is Room To Breathe by You Me At Six. **

**Thank you to all those who followed/favorited this little project of mine: DoctorBoo24, Fall-Back-Down, Hiiri 25, blitzcat28, m0nalisat0ldalie88, Katarzyna88gb, smuffy88**

**I will try to answer reviews in these Author's notes at the beginning of each chapter! So if you guys have any questions about the story or well anything, want to discuss theories, whatever, just leave a review and I will try to answer it in the next chapter's Author's Note!**

**Guest: In all honesty, I have been trying to figure out a good idea for a Rick/OFC story for forever! I love Rick and I feel like he doesn't get as much love as Daryl does so that is one reason I wrote this! I am also glad you think that I did a good job portraying Alana as strong but still human/vulnerable! Rick is a big sweetheart in my opinion and I don't think he would let Alana suffer through her pains by herself! Also when Rick and them come across the Claimers, shit is gonna go down and seriously that was the first thing I had pictured in my mind when I came up with this idea! **

**Katarzyna88gb: Thanks for favoriting and I hope you love this chapter too!**

**m0nalisat0ldalie88: Enjoy this chapter!**

**I know a lot of authors say this but reviews and feedback really help with the whole muse when writing. Tell me what you guys thought of the chapter, what you think of Alana and what she brings to the group, and even ask me questions you may have! I really hope you guys like what I have in mind for this story! **

**Now onward to the actual story!**

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><p><strong>The Road<strong>

**_Chapter | One_**

"You didn't wake me up." Alana heard Carl call out from where she was mucking around in the pig's pen. The blonde looked up from her spot next to the piglet Carl had dubbed Violet and saw the young man walking towards Rick who was standing just outside the pen watching Alana in amusement as she seemed to be playing around in the mud. Rick shook his head at that thought and chuckled lowly to himself as he saw Alana desperately trying to get Violet up and moving but to no avail. Rick hated that Carl had named the piglet because naming it meant there was sentiment there, that meant attachment and it would be a hell of a lot harder to kill something that he was attached to. "'cause I knew you were up all night reading comic books with a flashlight." Rick replied as Carl smiled sheepishly and subtly nodded his head confirming his father's statement which made Alana laugh at the pair. "Aw, c'mon sheriff! Every boy's gotta read comics! Hell I stayed up reading comics until I had to go to school once when I was his age. Of course, I fell asleep in one of my classes and my dad was called but I stayed up all night like a real adult!" Alana joked as both Rick and Carl laughed at the mud covered young woman.

Alana had taken to calling Rick, sheriff, after overhearing Rick's former profession mentioned while Daryl and Beth were talking. Everyone was still trying to guess what Daryl's profession before the apocalypse was and Zach had even made a game of it. Daryl allowed him one guess per run and Alana even tried to sneak a guess in before everyone else was awake, surprisingly Daryl didn't yell at her for asking but just shook his head at all her ridiculous guesses. Of course, Rick didn't mind her jests and he reciprocated the nickname back at her after hearing a conversation between Carol and Alana where Carol had asked what the young blonde did before the world went to shit. Alana's answer made him laugh a little too loud so he was discovered by the two women eavesdropping. He could still remember the look on Alana's face when she walked up to him trying to hide behind the corner like a little child, her hands were placed on her hips like a disapproving mother, and there was a smirk on her lips because she liked to idea of catching their leader red handed.

"Well, look at that. Ballerina over there was a wild child who woulda guessed." Rick remarked with a smirk as Alana raised an eyebrow at him and threateningly grasped a lump of mud in her hands daring Rick to call her that again. Rick raised his hands up in mock surrender supporting a tiny smirk of his own as Carl laughed at the pairs antics. Carl walked up next to his father at the pen's fence and looked in at Violet frowning at the tired looking piglet. "What's up with Violet?" He asked Alana as she peered down at the lounging little creature and frowned herself. "Carl, I told you not to name them. They're not piglets anymore. They're food." Rick scolded the teen as Carl looked up at his father not fully understanding what it was he was getting scolded for. Having enough of their moppy depressing faces, Alana grabbed a handful of mud in her hand and chucked it at Rick's face laughing like a hyena when the glob smacked against Rick's scruff covered cheek causing the older man to look at her in awe which she replied to with a casual shoulder shrug. "Stop mopping around, Grimes. We got farming and shit to do." Alana told them loudly making both of them chuckle at her methods as she went and lept over the fence landing in front of Carl before taking his sheriff's hat from his head and planting it atop hers with a shit-eating grin across her lips. Carl gave up after a few minutes of trying to get the hat from her head and looked back at Violet who laid still just as she had minutes before. Alana moved to stand next to Rick who was grinning down at her and she just wiggled her eyebrows up at him laughing coyly.

"I don't know what's going on with her. Could be sick. Could be nothing," Rick began to say as he looked away from Alana and glanced over at Carl who looked up at him expectantly relying on his father for the answers. Rick shrugged his shoulders and looked back at Violet before clicking his tongue at her as if that would get her up and moving. "Feel better… Violet. C'mon let's get to it." Alana moved away from the pair, not before taking Carl's hat off her head and placing it on top the boy's, and she went back to tending to the animals, well just the piglets because Michonne had the horse and there were no other animals. She glanced over her shoulder at the Grimes' men and smiled at the scene before her. Rick walked alongside Carl with an arm wrapped around the younger boy's shoulder, talking to him and Carl looked up at his father as he spoke words of wisdom down at him. She liked this scene before her, not the scene she had first come across when the two Grimes' men were in the same vicinity. In this scene, the two reminded her of Mufasa and Simba when Mufasa was showing Simba all the land that the lion's controlled. "Everything the light touches is our kingdom." Alana whispered to herself as she grabbed the bucket of slop for the piglets and spread it out in the trough they had made for the animals. The scene she had first encountered was more like the scene right before Scar let Mufasa fall into the stampede of wildebeests. Carl had been angry at Rick for taking his gun away. The look on Carl's face had been terrifying to witness. It was worrisome how much anger and hatred were in the young boy's eyes.

She heard Hershel before she actually saw him. His gimp leg gave him away, creaking and groaning at the older man moved across the uneven surface. "You know, Hops, you aren't really all that stealthy anymore. Your peg leg gives you away." Alana remarked out loud as Hershel moved outside the fenced pen and laughed at her nickname for him. Of course, Alana pretty much had nicknames for everyone. Carol was Mama Bear because of how protective she was of everyone, Glenn was known as Pizza Man after she found out about his past life, Beth was Little Songbird because she was pretty much always singing, Hershel was Hops because of his gimp leg, Tyreese was Hammer-Time for obvious reasons, Carl was Deputy because he was a miniature version of Rick, and there were others that she only used on special occasions. The special occasions were mainly for grumpy ole Daryl who hated Alana's dumb nicknames, his words. "Aw shucks, you mean I am not gonna win the hide and seek game the kids are gonna be playing this afternoon. Dang, I was hoping to come out the champion," Hershel joked back at her as Alana laughed at his remark and leaned against the fence looking up at the older man. "How's your arm doing?" Alana lifted a mud covered hand to the bandage that was wrapped around the upper part of her left arm and sighed remembering exactly how she had been wounded, being a fucking idiot.

She had thought that she would be okay checking the traps quickly by herself. She regretted doing so and remembered every word of the lecture Rick had given her when he and Daryl managed to get her back inside the fences. _"What were yah thinkin'? Yah could've died, yah could've been bit and yah still went out there on yer own!"_ She had tried to explain to him that she wanted to contribute to the group, everyone was off doing their own thing and she didn't think much else of it because she had never had to think about what others would feel or think if something happened to her. _"I wasn't thinking Rick. I'm sorry."_ The conversation had been pretty much one sided with Rick yelling at her for being _so stupid_ and for _not thinking about how _her_ death would affect others_. She had managed to slice her arm open running away from a horde of Walkers. Her arm had caught on a tree branch that had been sticking out in her path as she ran as fast as she could and the jagged end of the dead branch had broken her skin leaving her with a large gash across her arm. Rick and Daryl had run out at the sounds of her screams for help and had found her standing with her back against the tree trunk, bloody crowbar gripped in her right hand readying to smash into the skull of the next Walker to approach her.

"It's fine." Alana replied harsher than she had wanted to speak to Hershel but he understood her hostility. She wasn't proud of what she had done and in all honesty she really wanted it all to be behind her but she knew that Rick wouldn't just let it go because he was Rick and he didn't want her to get hurt anymore than she already had been hurt. "He just wants you to be safe, Alana. You know that right?" Hershel said to her as she nodded her head at him and looked over at the man in question who was already looking at the pair conversing. Alana then waved at Rick coyly and wandered over with Hershel to get lessons on farming with Rick.

Alana, of course, was only half listening to what Hershel was telling them. She was paying closer attention to the Walkers lined up along the metal fence. "These leaves are gonna be in the shade so we won't get any good fruit from 'em. So we just pinch it off here. Things break but they can still grow. These little bristels they'll take root. We'll have a whole new plant." Alana's attention went back to what Hershel was saying as she felt Rick shift right next to her. He was uneasy as well but not for the same reasons as her. He wasn't meant to be a farmer, Alana knew that. He was meant to be the leader, to be doing leader-esque things but because of the rift he had seen in he and Carl's relationship and thought of Carl growing up brutal and animalistic made him need to change his role in the group.

A sharp whistle cut through the air and the approaching thunder of hooves echoed. "Let's go!" Rick called out to Carl as the two of them sprinted for the gates to open them for Michonne and the horse. Alana stayed behind watching with Hershel as the two Grimes' men strained to get the gate open. Alana didn't go to help them because she didn't want a front row seat if something went wrong. Either Michonne getting thrown off the horse and getting bit, a Walker managing to get past the defenses and taking a chunk out of Rick or Carl, or even just the horse trampling one of the Grimes' men. She didn't want to be one to witness more death. Then again, that often was inevitable. She sauntered up by the trio as Michonne hopped down from the horse and was digging through her side saddle. Alana watched as Michonne pulled some comic books out of the side saddle and handed them to Carl who couldn't help exclaiming his happiness. "No way. Awesome. Thank you." He thanked Michonne as she chuckled at his response and told him that when he was done, she got to read them.

Then Michonne turned towards Rick and handed him an object that made Alana laugh loudly. "And I found this. Your face is losing a war." She told him with a smile on her face as he shook his head and looked down at the electric razor she had placed in his hand. "I think the rugged cowboy look suits our resident sheriff's deputy." Alana remarked out loud while Rick just ignored the pair's jests and put his hands on his hips, sizing Michonne up, visually checking her for injuries. "You gonna stay a little while?" Rick asked Michonne as she moved by her horse grabbing yet another item from her side saddle before turning to look at Alana momentarily ignoring Rick's query. She smirked at Alana making the blonde quirk an eyebrow at her wondering why the hell she was giving her that look. Then Michonne held out a pair of worn shitkickers and Alana's face lit up like a Christmas tree. "Oh my god, Michonne! You are my new favorite person." Alana exclaimed as she took the boots into her hands and danced around like a young child after getting the present they really wanted for their birthday.

"Just a little while." Michonne replied as Daryl coasted down towards them on his motorcycle. When Daryl stopped in front of Michonne and alongside Rick, Alana wedged her way between the two men and lazily leaned with her arm braced on Daryl's shoulder. The archer's only response was a half second glare that was flickered at her before he turned his attention back on the katana wielding badass standing with her arms lazily crossed over her chest. "Well, look who's back." Daryl remarked in an amused tone as Alana glanced over at Rick who was grinning at her because this was probably the longest Daryl had ever let anyone touch him before. Alana and Daryl had a older brother, younger sister relationship where even though Alana tried her best to annoy him every chance she got, Daryl still adored her all the same.

"Didn't find him." Michonne said solemnly as Daryl just nodded his head. There wasn't much else to say. Alana felt out of place in this conversation. She had really no right to even be apart of it. She didn't know The Governor. She didn't know what he had done to them. Well, she did but she only had the stories, and not the first hand knowledge. She knew that he had made them lose so many important people namely the most recent being the prominent reason for Michonne to be searching for him in the first place, Andrea. Alana feeling out of her comfort zone, tried to walk away from the small group's discussion but was stopped by a calloused hand wrapping itself around her narrow wrist. Alana turned to see Rick holding onto her wrist looking at her pleadingly as if she could possibly help persuade Michonne to not do something stupid like traveling to Macon in search of The Governor on her own. "70 miles of Walkers, might run into a few unneighborly types, is it?" Daryl said matter of factly to Michonne as she huffed like a child being told they can't get a snack from the grocery store. "I'm gonna check out the Big Spot, one I was talking about just seeing." Daryl told Rick as he turned towards Alana and Rick who still were holding hands. Neither of the two were really aware of the fact that they hadn't let go of the other's hand and this didn't go unnoticed by the archer. "We gotta go out and check the snares. I don't want to lose whatever we catch to the Walkers." Rick said as he slowly let Alana's hand slip from his grasp and loosely hung his hand by his side. "I'll go." Michonne volunteered as Carl remarked on the fact that she had just gotten there to which she replied humorously with, "And I'll be back."

Alana grabbed ahold of the horse's reigns as Rick ran ahead, tossing the razor to the side, opening the gates with Carl for the group to leave for their run. As Carl and Rick ran towards Alana who was gently guiding the horse towards the pen, she could hear Carl asking Rick if he was going to be checking the snares. Alana knew that Carl was getting anxious being cooped up in the prison expected to act like a child that he doesn't feel he is but she respected Rick's decision to keep Carl inside the prison walls, an extra layer of protection. "Alana and I are and you're not," Rick told Carl as he took the horse's reigns from Alana and leaded the horse into its pen before turning back towards Carl who was doing his teenage boy pout at him. "Do your chores. Read comics. Maybe some books, too," Rick suggested to Carl as he gently pet the horse on its nose. "Hang out with... Patrick. Maybe go to story time." The look that Carl gave Rick as he suggested that Carl go to story time was absolutely priceless. Carl really hated the idea of having to do anything that was remotely _babyish_ in Carl's standard of thinking. "Dad, that's for kids." Carl groaned as Rick raised an eyebrow at his boy. "Yeah. Now brush her down." He told Carl as he pet the horse once more on the nose before gently placing a kiss on its snout. He then gestured for Alana to follow him and that's when the pair ran into Hershel who hobbled towards them making it really hard for Alana not to giggle at the image that popped into her head of Hershel sporting a wooden peg leg.

"Nothing wrong with staying close, Rick. Everyone understands. You're growing us enough food so we won't need to do runs soon," Hershel remarked as he gazed at the little farm over Rick's shoulder. "But we do need to find you a good pair of overalls. You need to look the part," Hershel joked as Alana giggled knowing what was going to be suggested. "A little piece of wheat out of the corner of your mouth. Maybe a bigger ass." That was when Alana bursted out into gut-wrenching belly laughs that caused her to hunch over like some sort of Frankenstein creature. It was her little, _little_ laughing fit that made both Rick and Hershel chuckle which only caused her to laugh even harder. "I don't think there is anything wrong with Rick's ass, Hershel." Alana responded before she could even think about what she was saying. Her cheeks turned beat red when she saw Rick glance over at her out of the corner of her eye and she regretted her words right then and there. The two men glossed over Alana's little slip of the tongue something the young blonde was immensely thankful for and went on with their conversation. "Listen, the rest of the council - Daryl, Glenn, Carol, Sasha, all of them - they wanted me to talk to you. When you go out there, you got to take your gun." Hershel told Rick as Alana rolled her eyes knowing that none of the council really wanted to tell Rick what to do especially after everything he had done for all of them. Rick quickly remarked on the fact that he and Alana would be just outside the fences and that six bullets wouldn't make the difference out there. "Rick, we want you to be safe. Bring your gun." Hershel said again but this time more firmly with little to no room for discussion from Rick wasn't pleased with being told to take his gun with him.

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><p>"Do you know what happened to your father after all this happened?" Rick asked Alana as he pried the dead rabbit from the snare, gesturing to the world around him as the word this left his mouth. Rick tended to get extremely talkative whenever they were alone. Whether that be in the cell that they shared or while checking the snares, Alana was surprised by how much Rick talked when it was just the two of them. More times than not, he would ask questions about her life before the apocalypse but he rarely ever freely gave up information about his own unless Alana asked and even then he was very hesitant to say anything. Alana understood why Rick was so guarded and less than forthcoming with information about his past life. He had lost so much from that life before the world went to shit. Talking about the things he had lost just brought all that pain back and made him relive those losses all over again.<p>

Alana glanced over at Rick as he walked a little ways ahead of her and knew exactly what he was asking. Do you know if he is alive or not? In truth, Alana didn't know for sure if her father was still alive but she just had this gut feeling that he had made it, he had survived this long and she'd see him again one day as child-like and foolish as that sounded, she needed to believe that whole heartedly. "When everything fell apart, he had called me from a hospital in Atlanta. Grady Memorial Hospital, I think. He had told me to leave the city, Atlanta, and make my way up towards Missouri. He had a brother who lived in a small city just outside St. Louis and he told me that he would meet me there," Alana spoke these words without a shake or quiver in her voice although she felt herself ready to breakdown, ready to let the fact that she had had to leave her father behind in a city that had been bombed. "He's still alive. I just know it. I have to believe that he had managed to get out of Atlanta because I know that he would not let anything keep him from me." Rick looked at Alana with that same look he had given her four weeks ago when she had told him about her nightmare.

"Your father was a cop, right?" Rick asked, trying to sweep the previous question he had asked under the rug and Alana was grateful for that. She quickly nodded her head at him and walked a little quicker to walk alongside him, beginning a story about her father and his unit. . "My father had this officer in his unit who got promoted to the like second in command and she was the biggest OCD he had ever seen. It was to the point that her uniform had to have absolutely no creases in it or she wouldn't wear it. She also organized all the other officers' desks and if anything was out of place on other people's desks, she would go ballistic. One day, Officer O'Donnell decided he wanted to get back at Dawn for unloading all the paperwork on him the previous night and messed with all of the desks in the precinct. My father said he had never seen anyone act so crazy before." Rick laughed at the stories that Alana told about her father and his fellow officers as he gathered up the animals they had caught in the traps and snares. He'd then walk up behind Alana and stuff the animals into the backpack that she had dangling from her shoulders. He chuckled when he noticed the fact that Alana had put on one of his shirts in her haste. Before they had come out to check the snares, Rick had told Alana that she had ten minutes to change and Alana had come back out five minutes later because she knew that he was looking for any reason to go out by himself. "Nice shirt." Rick remarked as Alana glanced down at the shirt she was wearing and could only laugh because she hadn't even realized that she had grabbed one of his shirts and not one of her own.

Both Rick and Alana stopped in their tracks when they saw an animal laying defeated on the ground like it had just given up. It was curious to Alana and something didn't feel right about the entire situation to her. As Rick began to move forward to approach the suffering animal, Alana saw movement out of the corner of her eye and she latched onto Rick's wrist quickly pulling him behind the tree trunk with her. The figure rushed towards the animal falling to its knees next to the animal and it looked like a Walker. It was covered in mud from head to toe and bits and patches of blood were visible. Hearing it speak was the last thing Alana expected to hear when she and Rick tried to sneak away. "Wait... Please. Please?" The figure spoke, her voice cracking as she tried to be louder to catch Rick and Alana's attention. Rick looked back at the woman in confusion because both he and Alana had been under the assumption that she was a Walker and now she spoke. "Please help me." Alana watched as Rick turned around to face this woman fully but she couldn't do it herself. This woman gave her this gut feeling that something was not right at all with her. She looked like someone who would end up slitting your throat in the middle of the night. "I know you don't know me. Okay, I know that. But can you please help me get this to my husband? We haven't eaten in days." Alana almost groaned out loud knowing that those words would definitely get a reaction out of Rick.

It wasn't that Alana didn't want to help this woman, she did but she didn't feel right about the whole situation at all. Then Rick reached into the satchel that hung from his shoulder and pulled out the sandwich that was supposed to be for him and Alana to share, holding it out to the woman, telling to her to go ahead and take it from him. Alana watched as the woman hesitantly took the sandwich from Rick and thanked him for it but her next question, chilled Alana to her bones. "Do you have a camp around here?" Alana wanted Rick to lie to the woman but he didn't, he told her flat out that they had a camp near there and Alana wanted to shoot Rick right then and there. "Could we possibly come back with you? We've been doing... very badly on our own." In all honesty, Alana didn't know if she trusted the woman's story. She had seen people lie balantly to her face and she had done it herself just to survive. How far would this woman go just to live? What was stopping her from leading Rick and Alana into a herd of Walkers or leading them to a group where they would be tortured and beaten possibly in Alana's case raped all over again? That thought of possibly being thrown back into a group where she would be used and thrown around like piece of trash, made Alana want to kill this woman to prevent that from happening. Of course, after that thought went through her mind, she regretted even considering hurting this woman when she really could need help. "I'd have to meet him. I need to ask him some questions, both of you." Rick's words puzzled Alana as they also puzzled the woman.

"What questions?"The woman asked as Alana glanced at Rick wondering what the actual hell he was even talking about. She had never been asked questions before she was allowed into the group. Was this some new thing that she hadn't been informed of? "Just three. When we get there." Rick told the woman as he lifted his hands up to show the woman that he wasn't going to attack her as he moved towards her just slightly. "You have a gun on you?" The woman shook her head but Alana looked at the woman skeptically because she wouldn't be out alone if she didn't have a weapon on her. Rick glanced back Alana over his shoulder and she shook her head at him, fearing that something bad would happen if he approached the woman. "Can I make sure?"

Alana was surprised when the woman nodded her head at Rick's question and allowed Rick to come up behind her and frisk the woman checking her for any weapons. She wasn't surprised though when Rick found a knife hanging from a little holster on her belt. "Look I don't know you so I'm just gonna tell you this," Rick spoke lowly and threateningly to the woman pointing the knife at her, looking her in the eyes. "You try anything, anything - you're gonna be the one who loses." Alana knew that Rick wasn't joking at all when he threaten this woman. He would cut her down if she made one threatening step towards either him or Alana. "I don't have anything else to lose." She whispered back to Rick who shook his head at her and told her that she did have something to lose. Her husband. Alana thought silently as Rick hesitantly held her knife out to her and nodded for her to go ahead and take it.

Alana reluctantly followed behind Rick as the woman moved to lead them to where her husband had stayed behind and she couldn't shake the feeling in the back of her mind that they could very well be walking straight into a trap.

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><p>Alana listened closely as Clara, the woman they had found in the woods, retold the story of her life after the apocalypse and she was amazed at how much attention Rick was giving this woman. "When they shut down the airports, our connecting flight never connected. They wouldn't let us leave the terminal, so... we slept next to these huge marble sculptures from Zimbabwe. Then, on the fourth night, the things just came through. There were a lot of us and…" Clara paused for a moment standing directly in front of Rick, looking at him like she was pleading with him to understand to her. "Now its just Eddie and me. And I wouldn't have made it if it wasn't for him. And it isn't that... he saved me over and over again or that he showed me the things that I had to do or... to be willing to do. If he wasn't still here... I- I couldn't be. I just- I couldn't."<p>

The thing that unsettled Alana not knowing what things she had to be willing to do. What kind of person was Eddie? Was he Joe and his group? "What were they?" Rick asked for both Alana and himself, knowing that Alana was wondering the exact same thing. Clara didn't quite understand what Rick was asking her. "The things you had to be willing to do?" Alana asked Clara as the woman looked at her surprised because Alana hadn't spoken a word to her since she wandered across them. "Um... Eating whatever we could find- animal carcasses and rotten fruit- and... leaving people behind," Clara hesitated to say the last part and Alana could understand her hesitation because she obviously didn't want to say anything that might ruin her and her husband's chances of getting into their group. "Hiding from people who needed my help. Unlike you." Clara looked straight at Rick when she said _unlike you_ and Rick just shook his head at her. He wasn't doing this for her. He was doing for his conscience's sake more than anything. "This is not charity," Rick clarified for Clara as the trio began moving again. "You have to have numbers. People are the best defense against Walkers or people. We help each other." Alana noticed a change in Clara's demeanor when Rick mentioned Walkers and that set out a little spark in the back of Alana's head. _Who is this woman?_ "You call them "walkers"?" Clara asked as if calling them that was so wrong.

This woman really creeped Alana out.

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><p>The trio was quiet for a good long while before Rick spoke all of a sudden, slightly scaring Alana for a second at the close proximity of his voice to her ear. "I saw those sculptures at the airport once. My favorite was the kids playing leapfrog." He said with humor in his voice as if he were imagining Carl and the kids back at the prison playing leapfrog. "Mine, too," Clara's answer was almost distracted and it made Alana look at Rick seeing if he noticed the difference in her voice alone. From the look on his face, Alana could tell that he too noticed the change in her voice and her facial features. "What Eddie and I had to do, did you do things like that?" Clara looked at both Rick and Alana searching their faces for the answer to her question.<p>

Neither Alana nor Rick wanted to answer that question so they both remained silent but that didn't stop Clara's curiousity. "Did you?" She asked again as Alana made eye contact with her and she nodded her head at the raven-haired woman who returned her nod. "Do you think you get to come back from them?" Now that was a question that Alana hadn't asked herself. Could she really come back from all that had happened with Joe and his group? Could she get her innocence back? She glanced over at Rick who looked to be deep in thought and she wanted to ask him that question herself, knowing that if she asked him, he might give her a straight answer. "I hope so." Rick answered curtly hoping that Clara would drop the subject entirely if he just gave his two cents. "Yeah? I hope we answer your three questions to your satisfaction." Clara's remark on the three questions made Alana question _what exactly this woman had done and why was her husband not with her._

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><p>When they reached the clearing that lead out into Clara's campsite, Alana knew something was off. Eddie hadn't made a sound yet. He hadn't even ventured out to see who had wandered into his camp. "Eddie. Oh, thank God you're still here," Clara said as both Rick hesitantly walked further into the camp. Alana looked around, glancing into the tent which seemed as if no one ever slept in it. It was too neat and clean. Clara couldn't possibly have slept in there without getting it dirty even just a little bit. Then Clara ran over towards a wooden crate falling to her knees gushing over what seemed to be nothing. Alana looked over at Rick who wore a similar look on his face as she did. <em>What the fuck had they gotten into?<em> "This is Rick and Alana. They are gonna help us. Everything's gonna be okay. Everything -" They had their backs turned for only a few seconds when Clara screamed out and the next thing Alana knew, there was excruciating pain emanating from her right shoulder and she was laying flat on her back. "Damn it!" Rick yelled loudly as he leaned down just enough to pull Alana up onto her feet.

Alana looked down at Clara who was curled up in on herself sobbing and gasping for air. Weirdly enough, Alana wasn't mad at her for slicing her open. She saw herself in Clara. She was doing what she had to do to survive. Alana understood that. "I wanted to take the boar. I just knew - I knew I'd get you here so much quicker," Clara told Rick as she gasped the words out between sobs before she tried to sit herself up. "He's starving. He's slowing. He needs something alive," Alana knew then that Eddie wasn't _Eddie _anymore. "Please, I told you, I can't be without him. And so I kept him. It was wrong. I can't do things like this," Alana could see Rick practically falling apart inside and she could feel him trying to keep himself together. "And - and you have to do things like this. Let me be like him," Alana didn't want to believe it but she knew what Clara was going to do. She was going to kill herself. She just wanted to live on with her husband. Alana wanted to be strong watching this scene play out in front of her. Clara falling apart, begging to be with her husband. Maybe this was what happened when the world that they lived in now took hold of them, they just give up. "Don't stop it. Don't end it after." Rick didn't figure out what Clara was going to do until it was too late. "Let me be with him." Clara pleaded with Rick as she picked her knife up and quickly drove it inwards towards her abdomen. "NO!" Rick yelled in disparity as Clara plunged the knife into her stomach and Alana couldn't watch. She had to look away. Rick looked back at her with tears in his eyes and she wanted so badly to wrap him up in her arms.

Clara then fell forward and was gasping in pain, silently sobbing, her body racking with tears. Rick didn't know what to do. Neither did Alana. She had never been around someone while they were bleeding internally. She didn't know what to say to her to comfort her. "Hey." Rick spoke softly as he crouched down next to Clara who was trying really hard to look up at him. "What were... the questions? The three questions?" She asked as her breaths came out labored and harsh. "How many Walkers have you killed?" Rick asked her as she clutched her stomach tightly. "Eddie-Eddie killed-killed them all. Until..." Clara started to say as Rick nodded at her signalling to her that he understood what she was trying to say. "How many people have you killed?" Rick said with tears welling up in his eyes, ready to spill out of their confines. "Just me. Just me." She whispered as Alana moved up behind Rick and crouched down next to him, placing a comforting hand on his shoulder. "Why?" He croaked out as Clara's breaths hitched roughly causing her whole body to jerk.

"_You don't-you don't get to come back. You don't get to come back from things. You don't..._" Clara breathed out as she closed her eyes and took her last breath. Rick lost it then, sobs lurching out of his body and all Alana could do was wrap her arms around him and hope that that was what he needed.

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><p>Alana laid awake that night unable to sleep. Her mind kept wandering from Clara to the three questions Rick had asked her. She still didn't understand why he hadn't asked her those questions when Maggie and Glenn brought her back. She was laid out flat on her back on the top bunk in the cell that she and Rick shared and she heard a shift in his breathing, one that Alana knew meant he was awakening. She took this as her moment to ask the question that had been racking her brain all day. She gracefully hopped down from her bunk and was met with Rick's sleepy eyes gazing up at her questioningly. "What's wrong, Alana?" Rick asked softly sitting up quickly on his bunk, suddenly more awake than he had been two seconds before. "Why did you never ask me those questions, Rick?" She whispered to him as he leaned forward with his elbows resting on his knees. <em>What? <em>was Rick's sleepy response. "Why did you not ask me those questions you asked Clara?" She repeated as Rick scrubbed a calloused hand down his face and sighed loudly.

"I didn't ask you those questions because I didn't see the need." Rick responded as she looked at him confused. How could she possibly have looked like she didn't need to be asked those questions? She would've never let herself in if she had been Rick and his group. "Why did you not see a need to ask me?" She implored wanting more of an explanation from the older man. "Because you looked so broken and beaten down that I didn't think you would be much of a threat. I never thought you'd even talk to anyone after seeing you for the first time." Rick told her as he looked her straight in the eyes waiting to see her response to his answer. That was the first time that Rick had ever admitted that Alana wasn't this strong warrior he imagined her to be. _Ask me, please _was all that Alana said to Rick.

He quirked an eyebrow at her confused as to why she wanted him to ask these questions of her now after she was already a part of their group. "_Ask me._" She repeated almost pleadingly as if she needed to be asked these three simple questions. Rick sat there quietly for a few minutes and Alana half expected him to lay back down, fall back asleep and completely forget about her but then he asked her the first question. "How many Walkers have you killed?" He asked her as she nodded her head and ringed her hands together as if her answers would determine if she would remain in the group. Rick wanted to tell her that she didn't need to worry about being forced to leave but he decided against it and just let her answer the question. "I don't know. I used to keep track as a way to kind of keep myself sane but I just lost count and know I don't really think before I kill one. It's either it or me." She responded quietly keeping her head bowed so she didn't have to watch Rick's reactions to her responses. Rick understood Alana's answer. He had done the same thing at the beginning but now everything seemed to mesh together and he had no clue how many of them he had killed. "How many people have you killed?" He asked softly as Alana looked up at him and pleaded with him to not think of her any differently, using only her eyes. _One _was Alana's quiet response and Rick didn't need to even ask the last question because soon after her answer to the second question, she told him why. "I killed him so that he couldn't hurt anyone else like he had hurt me." She whispered to him as she looked him straight in the eyes and let the tears flow out from her.

Then she crawled back up onto her bunk and left Rick to wallow in his own thoughts. All that could be heard was the dead silence of the prison and that brought her absolutely no comfort. She wrapped her arms around herself and willed herself to fall asleep and momentarily forget this day. The moment she closed her eyes, all she saw was Clara's face as she launched herself at Alana with her knife raised in the air. The look in her eyes was what really haunted Alana's memory. There was absolutely nothing there. Just death.

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><p><strong>There you guys are! Chapter | One is officially done! Tell me what you thought of it in the reviews! I would love to hear from you guys! I know that this chapter isn't really all that exciting but the chapter will only get more action packed from here! Thank you guys so much for reading and I hope to have the next chapter by the middle of next week and I will try to post little previews and stuff on my tumblr page if you guys would like to see those all you gotta do is follow my tumblr which is itsYOUiSEVER <strong>

**Until the next chapter,**

**See ya!**


	3. Chapter 2

**_Author's Note:_**

**_Well, *ducks out from behind laptop* I'm back with The Road! I know this took forever to get out but I wanted to get it just right and this last episode of The Walking Dead (episode 13 "Forget") has inspired me and oh my God, I am annoyed with the way Rick is acting and the person he is becoming! Anyone else really hating how Rick is being written in these last two episodes? Because I am! But I can tell you that I will not gloss over that stuff when I get to those points in this story. Alana is not gonna let Rick's shit slide! :) Basically if any Rick/Jessie things happened, well, Rick is gonna be in the doghouse for a long time. _**

**_Thanks to all those who reviewed/followed/favorited this story!_**

**_Followed: DoctorBoo24, Fall-Back-Down, ForgottenGrumpyWolf, Hiiri 25, Hope and love, Jesspea, blitzcat28, corbsxx, m0nalisat0ldalie88, nightsinshadow, smuffy88, speedy964, wabi-sabi1090, Lyric Dreams_**

**_Favorited: CJE, ChevyImpalaCryWolf, ForgottenGrumpyWolf, Katarzyna88gb, Lily Ann Cullen, Purple Dragon Ranger, nightsinshadow, schattenbinder, smuffy88, speedy964, wabi-sabi1090, Lyric Dreams_**

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**_wabi-sabi1090: Yeah, in that moment they are relaxed and comfortable with each other but I can tell you that it isn't always gonna be that way. ;P_**

**_Katarzyna88gb: Thanks! I really liked writing the preview, mainly because of sweet Rick. I will try to update as soon as I get chapters done but I try to rewatch the episodes before I start writing, to get the quotes and to analyze the episode looking for little things that I may have missed watching them through the first time._**

**_The song for this chapter is "Violence (Enough is Enough)" by A Day To Remember._**

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><p><strong>The Road<strong>

_Then she crawled back up onto her bunk and left Rick to wallow in his own thoughts. All that could be heard was the dead silence of the prison and that brought her absolutely no comfort. She wrapped her arms around herself and willed herself to fall asleep and momentarily forget this day. The moment she closed her eyes, all she saw was Clara's face as she launched herself at Alana with her knife raised in the air. The look in her eyes was what really haunted Alana's memory. There was absolutely nothing there. Just death._

_**Chapter | Two**_

The glow from the full moon outside the cell block was the only source of light Rick had as he laid wide awake on his cot with Alana's warm body flush against his. The bed sheet they were sharing pooled at the pair's waists, leaving their bare torsos open to the nipping air around them. The moon's light danced across Alana's bare back revealing her scars to Rick. He had seen her brutal scars before but not at this close a proximity. The scars stretched from the tops of her shoulder blades to the base of her spin, at least the scars that he could see that weren't covered by the bed sheet. He knew that she had roping scars down her legs, both on the inner and outer parts of her pale thighs. He knew this because he had felt them only a few hours prior, wrapped around his lean waist.

He sighed softly and eased himself onto his side, facing Alana who was laying on her stomach with her right arm wrapped around his left arm like a snake constricting around its prey. He cautiously reached his right hand out, hovering above the many scars that embroidered her creamy skin, puckering up in harsh ugly pink lashes that contrasted greatly with her natural skin color. Softly, he let his fingers dust across one scar that stood out to him. The scar was jagged, thick and dark pink in color. It looked like a dull hunting knife had carved into her skin, zigzagging across her back from the top of her left shoulder blade, dragging across her body, ending at her right hip. Rick ghosted his fingertips over that gruesome scar, fighting the images that flooded his mind of how she got that blemish.

Alana stirred at Rick's touch and tightened her grip around his left arm. Rick then leaned across her body, pressing a soft kiss to her right shoulder blade where the bandage covered the jagged laceration Clara had left on her body before he brought his arm around her and pulled her so that there was nothing between their bodies but their skin. Rick nuzzled his face into the back of her head where the base of her neck met her shoulders, breathing in deeply, taking in her scent. _Lilacs and sweat_. Rick thought to himself. It was a weird combination but it was purely her. She was all flowers and tomboyish flare. Alana shifted in her sleep underneath his torso and turned her head so that it was facing towards the cell wall, making her slightly chapped lips brush against his shoulder blade. Rick leaned back a little bit to gaze at her face and saw it contort and twist in fear. He brushed her wavy blonde hair away from her eyes and dusted a soft kiss against her forehead as she opened her eyes abruptly. They were wide with fear and all Rick wanted to do was wrap her up in his arms and take her away from all the destruction and sorrow in this world.

Rick didn't have time to react when Alana quickly turned her entire body around and wrapped her arms around his torso, making it so that she was laying on her back underneath him. She buried her face into his neck clutching his shoulders in her hands, digging her nails slightly into his bare skin. Rick gently rubbed the marred skin on her back, trying to ignore the feeling of her naked body pressed so tightly against his and mentally cursing himself for having any reaction in his nether region at a time like this where Alana just needed comfort. "What happened, Alana?" Rick whispered into her ear as she loosened her hold on him, allowing him to put some distance between her so he could look her in the eyes as she answered him. She only whimpered out one word and that was all Rick needed to know. _Nightmare_. He understood that her nightmares weren't just nightmares, they were events that she had lived through and endured. Joe and The Claimers haunted her conscious mind and her unconsciousness whether she showed that outwardly or not, Rick knew that she was scared. "It's okay, Alana. I won't let them hurt you again. I will kill them if they ever try to lay a finger on you again." Rick promised her as he brought his hand up to her chin forcing her to look him in the eyes. "I promise." She then leaned her forehead against his and closed her eyes, relishing in the closeness, not knowing when the next time would be that they would have this kind of peace. Especially after everything that had happened that day.

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><p><em>About 24 hours earlier<em>

Alana glanced up from her spot leaning against the prison wall as the door to cell block C opened up and Rick and Carl wandered out. Rick's eyes immediately fell on her and he didn't say any words just nodded at her. That was the most he had done to acknowledge her that morning. She wondered if her response to his questions the night before really got to him.

**How many Walkers have you killed?**

_I don't know. I used to keep track as a way to kind of keep myself sane but I just lost count and now I don't really think before I kill one. It's either it or me._

It was stupid really to have tired to keep track of all the Walkers she had killed. At first, she had done it so she would have known exactly how many people she had taken from their families, not fully understanding that they weren't really people anymore. She didn't fully realize that until she had watched a horde of Walkers tear apart a person. After that her mind only thought of survival when it came to Walkers.

**How many people have you killed?**

_Just one._

And he deserved the pain she put him through. She only wished she had been able to draw it out longer. Tate's pain-filled screams had alerted Joe and his group and they had managed to pull Alana away from Tate's bloody body before she had gotten her vengeance.

**Why?**

_I killed him so that he couldn't hurt anyone else like he had hurt me._

And she did make sure that he wouldn't live through it. He couldn't hurt anyone else. He was nothing but dust on the ground.

She couldn't help but worry that Rick saw her differently after she made him ask her them. He hadn't kicked her out yet so that was a semi-good sign. She was reluctant to even follow the two Grimes men out into the yard. She didn't want to overstep her bounds but when Rick stopped just a few feet short of the first fence leading out into the field outside the yard and beckoned her to come with them, she took those steps towards the pair. She was staring at the back of Rick's tan button up shirt willing him to just talk to her about what had happened the night before.

She knew that he would most likely wait to talk to her when they were alone but she really doubted that he'd even bring it up. He'd just keep it bottled up until she did something that he somehow connected to her answers to those questions. She then realized that she had to take things into her own hands and corner Rick to get all this out in the open. She moved her legs a little faster to catch up with the two Grimes men and placed a hand on Rick's shoulder, making the older man look back at her. She then slid her hand down to grip his bicep, keeping him from moving away from her and she did her best to keep herself strong and unyielding in her manner, leaving Rick no room to try to run away from this talk.

"Carl, go help Michonne with Flame. Your dad and I got to talk for a little bit. We'll meet you over there when we are done." Alana told Carl as she gestured towards Michonne who was preparing her horse for another run. Carl didn't question her and ran over to help the warrior with her steed. Alana looked up at Rick out of the corner of her eye and saw him staring down at her. She removed her hand from his arm and defensively crossed her arms over her chest, almost holding her like she was getting a hug from someone. "Talk." That was all she said to Rick as the pair stared at each other, shades of blue boring holes into the other's body. He looked at her as if he had no idea what she was talking about and that was what set her off, his inability to admit that there was a rift between the two of them.

"Obviously my answers to your three questions are weighing on you, so talk to me, Rick! Tell what the fuck you are thinking about me right now!" She yelled as she shifted her position to have her hands hanging at her sides and kept her burning gaze locked onto Rick who had yet to even open his mouth. When she got absolutely no response from the bearded bastard, she became furious and all bets were off. "You are so hypocritical! How many people have you killed, Rick Grimes? Five… Ten… Twenty people? And why did you kill them? To keep your family safe! I killed one person to make sure he didn't hurt anyone else and you treat me like I killed him in cold blood!" Rick opened his mouth to speak but Alana didn't stop, she kept yelling because she had let all this pain simmer inside her and now it was boiled so she needed to let it out.

"You don't get to judge me or my actions! You didn't have to go through what I went through. You didn't have to let gross, pigheaded men touch, caress and do what they wanted to do with you so that you could stay alive. You don't have ugly scars littering your body as constant reminders of the pain and agony you let them inflict on you. You never had to feel like you were all alone and there was no one out there to come and save you. You had an entire group to lean on and I had no one so you do not get to judge me, you bearded bastard!" She stood less than half a foot from Rick, jabbing her right forefinger into his sternum, beet red in the face and he still had not yet made a move to respond. "You seriously have nothing to say to that at all? You know what Grimes, FUCK YOU!" Alana moved to storm away from Rick but was tugged back by a calloused hand wrapping around her bony wrist. She spun around quickly, raising her right hand ready to slap the shit out of the stupid bastard but when she was turned all the way around, her hand didn't immediately hit Rick's face. She tilted her head up to look at Rick whose face was incredibly close.

The next thing she knew, his lips were pressing into hers with a sort of passion she couldn't remember feeling before. His large, calloused, work toughened hands cradled her soft face, holding her close to himself. Alana's eyes were open and wide in surprise while Rick's eyes were closed and he looked so relaxed. She didn't really allow herself to let her guard down until she felt Rick's thumbs caressing her cheekbones and the subtle press of Rick's lips moving against hers. She could feel the coarse hairs of his salt and pepper beard brushing against her skin and something about that feel was exhilarating. Her hands searched for something to grasp, to hold onto and they found a comfortable spot on his hips, looping her fingers through his belt loops.

The pair didn't pull away from each other until an echo of catcalls rang through the air and Alana glanced over Rick's shoulder to find Carl and Michonne cheering and applauding the public display of affection that had been going on. Rick lowered his head so that his forehead rested on the juncture where her shoulder and neck sloped into each other and nuzzled his nose into her hair, which _almost_ made Alana forget why she was mad at the bearded soul in the first place. Key word there being almost. As much as she liked the affection being shined down on her, he wasn't getting away with ignoring her very existence not thirty minutes earlier.

She pushed lightly on Rick's shoulders forcing him to move back a little bit and look down at her, not that he had all that much height on her, maybe only three or so inches. "As much as I appreciate what ever that just was, I'd appreciate an explanation more." She told him calmly as he brought his hands to grasp her biceps and proceeded to caress her exposed pale skin. She gave him a knowing look because she knew this tactic, trying to distract her from the problem at hand with nice words and loving touches to get out of talking about feelings and shit. Her father used to do that a lot, not really wanting to talk emotions with her young teenage daughter. Of course that only worked for so long until Alana realized what he had been doing and called him out on it. "Yeah, you get to explain yourself to me without any touching or I am walking away from you and locking myself in the cell until you grow some testicles and talk to me about what is going through that graying head of yours." Alana gave him the ultimatum hoping he'd pick the first choice but very much ready to sprint to the cell block if he stupidly picked the second. She had to hide the smile that wanted to grow onto her lips as Rick opened his mouth to speak. He had made the right choice. "You don't like to talk about what happened out there, not really talk about it. You'll mention it, giving me little bits and pieces but you don't tell anyone anything of importance until you are ready, comfortable with them and that was what I was trying to do. Let you make the move to tell me what happened to you and not pressure you. I guess I pissed you off in the process." Rick softly said as she leaned her head against his collarbone and wrapped her arms around his lean waist, grasping ahold of the dusty tan shirt that covered his back. "You really couldn't just tell me that from the start, you bastard." Alana whispered as she pressed herself against Rick so that there was no room between the two of them. "You needed to get your anger out. Better you take that out on me than somebody else, like Daryl who would dish it right back at you." He replied as if that was the easiest answer ever, like it had been plain and simple from the start what he had been doing, when it was quite the opposite.

"Thank you, Rick. That really means a lot to me," She breathed out as he gently stroked her back and leaned his head against the top of hers. "I don't know what I'd do without you." He couldn't help but chuckle at what she had said. She had managed that long surviving without him. That hadn't been him helping her at all. She did that herself. Then it was Rick's turn to push her lightly away from his body and hold her at arm's length. "You'd be the same as you are now. Maybe punching a few more people but you'd still be as strong as you are now because I had nothing to do with your strength and your survival. You did that. You survived that." Rick told her as he leaned down and pressed a kiss to the crown of her head while gently brushing back her golden blonde hair from her eyes. She smiled up at him and embraced him once more before turning and finding Flame standing not a foot from her, sniffing her hair like a dog. Rick, Michonne and Carl laughed at Alana's reaction to how close the horse was to her face when she turned towards it. The four of them walked through the gate heading out into the field and Alana felt like the day couldn't get any better. Nothing could dampen her mood.

"Careful out there." Rick said to Michonne as she lead Flame down the gravel path towards the main gate. "Always am. Any requests?" Michonne asked as she looked over at Alana who had her arm draped over the younger of the Grimes men's shoulders. "Books? Comics? Some stale M&Ms?" Alana couldn't help but laugh at Michonne last example knowing that those were something that Michonne loved and in all honesty, she was probably alone in that love. "You're the one that likes stale M&Ms." Carl responded as both he and Alana fell into a fit of laughs together slightly hunching over with each belly-laugh. "Then I'll definitely be looking for some. I'll look for some stuff you like, too." Michonne said as the trio began to break off from the little group. "Why don't you wear your hat anymore?" Michonne called out to Carl who ducked out from underneath Alana's arm and turned back towards her walking backwards towards the pig pen. "It's not a farming hat. See you soon?" Carl said loudly as Michonne reassured him that she wouldn't be gone for long. Then he turned back around and ran to catch up with his father and Alana who were already getting the buckets for the compost ready.

Alana remained quiet while mixing up the compost with her sheriff and deputy but the same couldn't be said about Carl. He had a lot to say, most of which Alana knew Rick wouldn't agree with at all. "They only took out one cluster yesterday. Probably gonna need more people today," Alana knew what the younger man was alluding to and she also knew that Rick wouldn't agreed to it, not even if she had suggested it. "Maybe we could help." Alana wanted to scoff at Carl's request because it was a really long shot asking Rick to allow Carl to go anywhere near those Walkers. "I got other plans involving dirt and cucumbers." That was Rick's brisk response and Alana hadn't expected anything different from the bearded man. Alana was hoping that Rick's words would shut Carl down completely but of course, Carl didn't really get what Rick was hinting at. "Well, if you don't want to, maybe I could," Again Alana wanted to either laugh at Carl's ignorance to the fact that there was no way in hell that Rick was gonna let him anywhere near the Walkers by the fence, not with the new mindset that he had acquired, or if she wanted to smack the teen in the back of the head for not seeing that his father was trying to keep him safe. "Could !?" Alana dared to glance over at Rick who seemed to be ignoring the rest of the world and raised an eyebrow at him because she was expecting him to have some words to say about the topic. "_We_ have other plans. That's what I should have said." Rick responded as he picked up the bucket of compost and walked over towards the pig pen to give them the food.

Alana stood outside the pig pen and watched the two men interact. She didn't like the tension between them. Rick was pouring the compost into the home made through as he handed Carl the empty bucket who gave him another bucket of compost. Carl stood a few feet away from Rick looking like he wanted to say something but didn't know how to go about saying it. "Dad…? I'm sorry. I've been trying." Carl spoke softly as Rick looked over at him and Alana could see the pain that was in his eyes which made her want to gather both of them into her arms and never let them go. "Yeah, I know. And I'm proud." Rick said almost half-heartedly. Maybe it was because he knew what was gonna be asked next and he didn't want to have to say no again. "Dad, when can I have my gun back?" Alana watched Rick closely to see his reaction and she could tell he was contemplating his answer because he took a while to even say anything in response and when he did say something, he was trying to change the subject. "Worms will give them some extra protein." Right after he said that, a gunshot echoed from inside the prison. The sound sent all three of them into defensive mode. "Stay close." Rick said as he made his way out of the pen with Alana and Carl not far behind him.

"Help! Help!" Alana recognized the girl yelling and knew where she would have been coming from. "Please come quick!" The trio looked around in confusion not knowing what the hell was actually going on. "Cell block?" Maggie yelled down from the guard tower but they didn't know anymore than she did. "I don't know," Rick called back to her as he placed his hand on Carl's shoulder. Alana knew what he was going to say to the teen who wouldn't take the command lightly. "Get in the tower with Maggie," Carl opened his mouth to argue but Rick quickly shut him down. "Don't argue, go." Then Rick turned towards Alana who narrowed her eyes at him. "If you think for one second that I am letting you go in there alone, you are fucking nuts!" She retorted at him as he nodded his head and didn't even bother to say what he had been going to say. The two of them ran into the prison yard, Rick threw his work gloves to the side as he was racing up towards the closed gate. "Walkers in D!" Glenn yelled loudly but that wasn't Rick's concern. Judith. Alana thought to herself. That is who he is worried about. "What about C?" Rick asked in desperation that made Alana want to hold him in her arms. "Clear. We locked the gates to the tombs. Hershel's on guard." Sasha reassured Rick as she, Daryl and Tyresse ran out of the building. "It ain't a breach." Daryl said as he passed Alana and Rick who were both confused as to how this had even happened. "We followed the plan." Sasha told him as they moved towards cell block D in an organized group. Alana could tell that Rick didn't feel comfortable just running in there because he didn't have any weapons on him, not even his machete.

Inside cell block D was chaos. That was what Alana saw when she ran inside there. Blood, chaos, and death. A loud gunshot rang out from somewhere ahead of Alana and she ran into the warzone to see Daryl taking a shotgun away from one of the residents of cell block D. "Move!" Daryl yelled at the man as Rick called out his name and Daryl threw the shotgun back at Rick. "Are you bit?" Rick asked the man who had been holding the shotgun before who shook his head at him. "Go. Get out of here." He yelled at the man as he handed the shotgun over to Alana who moved her way into the mess. She saw people she had talked to just the other day turned into creatures that she normally didn't give a second thought to killing. She stood rooted in her spot watching as Glenn, Daryl, and Tyreese cleared the cell block of Walkers. It was a child's blood curdling scream that brought her out of her trance and she turned around in time to witness a little boy's shoulder being bitten and torn by a Walker. She sprung into action and ran towards the boy, raising the shotgun she had in her hands and blew the Walker's head clean off in one shot. The sound of the gunshot echoed through her body and her ears rang loudly. She then felt a hand clutching her pants leg and she looked down to see the little boy laying on the ground with blood gushing from the bite wound on his shoulder. "Check all of 'em - every cell." Alana heard Rick yell as she fell to her knees next to the boy and cradled him close to her body, not caring about the blood that was now coating her body. She frantically looked around for Carol, for anyone who could save this boy but what she was met with when she looked up wasn't hope. Carol stood halfway through the doorway of a cell and looked down at Alana, shaking her head at the blonde, telling her that there was no saving him.

Alana's attention went back to the boy in her arms and tried her hardest to keep herself from breaking down. She needed to be strong for him. She needed to keep him calm. She needed to get help. "Are we clear down here?" Rick asked as he walked towards Alana who was whispering softly to the little boy. She looked up at him with tears forming in the back of her eyes and the only thing he could do was give her a sad look. He couldn't comfort her right at that moment. He had to make sure everything was clear. "It's gonna be okay, Sam. You're gonna be okay. Rick and Daryl got rid of all the monsters. You don't have to be afraid." Alana hoarsely whispered to him as he reached up and clutched the sleeve of her shirt. She cradled his shaking body and stroked his long hair back from his forehead which was sweating profusely. "Am I gonna die, Alana?" He asked her in a small voice as Rick, Glenn, and Daryl walked down the stairs slowly, all their eyes were set on Alana watching her cautiously. "No, buddy. You aren't gonna die. You're gonna be just fine." She said as tears fell from her eyes and she reached for her switchblade. She flicked it open and brought Sam's head up to press a kiss to his forehead, slipping her switchblade just underneath his skull, effectively ending his suffering. She sat on the blood and gore covered floor, holding Sam's body close to her. Her body was racked with heart-wrenching sobs and she couldn't stop crying. She felt a cautious hand on her shoulder and she looked up to see Tyreese and Rick standing above her. "Alana, let Tyreese take Sam." Rick spoke softly as she looked back down at the boy in her arms and pressed one last kiss to his forehead before allowing Tyreese to take him from her.

Once Tyreese had lifted Sam from her lap, Rick gently grabbed ahold of her bicep and pulled her up to her feet where she practically flung herself into his arms, sobbing into the side of his neck, clutching onto him for dear life. He brought his arms around her body, grasping her hips in his hands, holding her ever so closely to himself as he tried to give her the comfort she needed. "Two." She whispered to him as she pulled away from him and walked towards Hershel and Dr. Subramanian as they made their way into the cell block. Her words left him deeply confused. Two what? What exactly did she mean? Rick didn't question her because he knew that she would talk to him when she was good and ready. He watched as she made her way up the steps to the second floor and stop right in front of the Walker that had once been Patrick. He made his way up the steps and moved cautiously behind her and Daryl who had joined the blonde to search the upper level cells. "I got it." Daryl said as they all stopped at a cell where one of the women from Woodbury lay with a gaping hole bitten from her neck. He aimed his crossbow at her forehead and sent a bolt straight into her brain. Alana then turned around and walked out of the cell to check the others. Rick followed closely behind Alana and watched her movements, trying to read what exactly was going through her mind.

Alana stopped in front of a cell that had a blanket draped across the doorway and she looked over her shoulder at Rick who nodded at her and walked to where she stood. He pulled back the blanket and saw the corpse laying on the bed, just waiting to reanimate. He glanced over at Daryl who nodded at him. That was their little symbol for each other saying that they had each other's backs. Rick then pulled his pocket knife from where it was clipped onto his belt and flicked it open, stepping into the cell, making sure that the corpse didn't get a chance to come back as a Walker. He slowly walked back out of the cell and looked over at Alana who wore a blank expression on her face and hadn't moved from her spot just outside the cell. He sauntered over to her and placed a comforting hand on her forearm before she moved away from him to check the last cell on the second floor. The cell door was closed and it seemed like there was nothing in it but neither of them were taking that chance. Both Alana and Rick had their knives out and ready to strike anything that flung itself against the bars of the cell.

When Alana walked up to the cell, she heard it first. The tell-tale growling and snarling of the Walker. She looked into the cell and she didn't like what she saw. The Walker stood a few feet from the cell door, facing Alana. Its eyes seemed as if they were bleeding, blood ran down its chin and down the sides of its neck from its ears. She knew this Walker._ Charlie, the sleepwalker._ It soon noticed Alana's presence and began walking towards the cell door, growling and snapping its teeth at her, trying to reach out and grab her. She looked over at Rick who quickly moved next to her and grabbed ahold of _Charlie's_ shirt, shoving his knife into its forehead, before letting it crumple down to the floor. Daryl then stepped forward and held the keys to the cell in his hand, unlocking it for Rick and Alana. Alana heard Daryl call for Hershel and Dr. Subramanian to come up as she wandered into the cell. Rick crouched down outside the cell, watching Alana as she observed Charlie's reanimated body, looking for bites or scratches that would point to how he had died and come back as a Walker.

"No bites. No wounds," Rick said as both Hershel and Dr. Subramanian made their way into the cell next to Alana who was still staring down at Charlie. "I think he just died." Alana looked over at the doctor at the sound of his voice. The younger man crouched down over Charlie's body, his eyes running over the length of his body searching for everything that Alana had looked for. Bites. Scratches. Anything that would point to how this man died. "Horribly, too. Pleurisy aspiration." Dr. Subramanian told them as everyone expect the doctor looked over at Hershel for the layman's explanation of the scientific words the doctor had just poured out like they were the most simple words he had ever spoken before. "Choked to death on his own blood," Hershel explained to the trio who weren't as educated on the medical jargon that both him and the doctor were so familiar with. "Caused those trails down his face." Hershel gestured down to the blood tear trails on Charlie's face and neck as Alana turned her attention back to the body that lay on the floor in front of her. "I've seen them before on a walker outside the fences." Rick put his two cents in as Alana glanced over at the former sheriff's deputy and watched as he shifted uncomfortably by the cell's doorway. She knew that he didn't like the feeling that there could be some unknown threat inside their home waiting to strike. Truth be told, she didn't like it either but that was how things were. "I saw them on Patrick too." Daryl said, causing Alana's attention to turn to the crossbow wielding hunter. The pain of another lost member of their family shown plainly in her eyes.

"They're from the internal lung pressure building up- like if you shake a soda can and pop the top," Dr. Subramanian explained to the four of them. "Only imagine your eyes, ears, nose and throat are the top." Alana shook her head at the image she got of a person's eyes, ears, nose and throat filling up with blood until their head exploded. A new voice ringing out had Alana looking over at the cell door to see Bob standing there. "It's a sickness from the walkers?" He asked the doctor as he stood with his arms crossed a few inches away from Rick who still was crouched at the cell bars, looking as if he wanted to run away from there. "No, these things happened before they were around. Could be pneumococcal. Most likely an aggressive flu strain." The doctor told them as Rick looked over at Alana with an expression that she didn't really know how to read, mainly because she didn't know what the word pneumococcal meant. "Someone locked him in just in time." Hershel commented as both Alana and Daryl shook their heads at the white-haired man. They both knew that Charlie hadn't been locked in there by someone else. "No, man. Charlie used to sleepwalk. Locked himself in," Daryl said as he shook his head, not being able to fully believe that someone who had seemed healthy just the other day had just died like he had been sick from a serious illness. "Hell, he was just eating barbecue yesterday. How could somebody die in a day just from a cold?" He looked at the others who stood within the cell and in the entryway of the cell, looking for some sort of explanation to this madness before and around him.

"I had a sick pig, it died quick. Saw a sick boar in the woods." Rick said as Hershel listened to his words intently, meaning that they must be meaningful to the snow-haired man. "Pigs and birds. That's how these things spread in the past," Hershel commented as he looked over at Rick who met his eyes, clearly wanting to know what the former vet had to say about the whole ordeal. "We need to do something about those hogs." Hershel said this directly to Rick who nodded in agreement before the doctor spoke. "Maybe we got lucky. Maybe these two cases are it." Alana admired the doctor for his optimism but she knew as well as the next person that there rarely was any such thing as getting lucky in the zombie apocalypse. Getting lucky in the world they now lived in could very well mean that they all would be dead the next morning. "Haven't seen anybody lucky in a long time. Bugs like to run through close quarters. Doesn't get any closer than this." Alana agreed with what Bob said. This illness had managed to parade through the little cell block and infect a good handful of people in a matter of hours. How long would it take to infect the entire prison? "All of us in here, we've all been exposed." Hershel said looking over the group that stood in the cell with him, sadness was in his eyes. His mind went to the worst case scenario. They all were going to die from whatever this illness was. Alana dared to glance over at Rick and she regretted doing so because he was staring at her with such an intensity that she wished she was a turtle so she could hide herself in her shell. They had just professed an interest in each other and they very well could be infected with a deadly sickness. She should have seen this coming.

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><p>As Rick and Alana walked out of the cell block into the prison yard, they saw Michonne being walked with her arms across Carl and Maggie's shoulders. The moment Carl saw his father, he ducked out from under Michonne's arm and took off towards Rick. "Hey, you might want to stay back. Carl." Rick said as he held his hand up signalling for Carl to stop but he didn't stop, he ran into his father's body and wrapped his arms tightly around his waist. Alana walked up next to the pair and smiled at the sight in front of her. "Dad, I'm sorry. I didn't see you come out." Carl said as Rick embraced his son, being sure that his hands didn't touch any part of his son to try to keep him from getting infected. "It's okay. I'm here. I'm fine. But back away." Rick comforted Carl as the young boy cried into his father's dirt covered shirt. Rick then lightly pushed Carl away from his body and Alana could see the regret in his eyes. He wanted to hold his son until he knew that he was alright but he couldn't risk getting Carl infected. "I had to use one of the guns by the gate. I swear I didn't want to." At Carl's words, Rick looked over at Michonne just noticing that she was injured. He tipped his head at her, silently asking what had happened. "I was coming back. I fell. They came out and helped me." Michonne's telling of what happened was simplistic but it got the point across. Carl picked up a gun to save someone, not just to shot because he could. "Are you all right?" Rick asked Michonne as she nodded her head at him and smiled softly at him. "What happened in there?" Maggie asked as Alana looked over to the other side of the courtyard and watched as a blonde haired woman slowly walked by carrying the body of what looked like a child, wrapped up in some off white sheets. She was crying softly to herself, doing exactly what Alana wanted to do but in the same time, she wanted to remain strong.<p>

She turned back towards the small group when Rick began his explanation of what they had seen in the cell block. "Patrick got sick last night. It's some kind of flu. It moves fast. We think he died and attacked the cell block," He said this looking at Maggie and Michonne trying real hard not to make eye contact with Carl, at least not right at that moment. Look, I know he was your friend and I'm sorry. He was a good kid. We lost a lot of good people," Rick bent just slightly to be on the same level as Carl trying to convey to the boy exactly how sorry he was that he had lost a friend. Alana wanted to walk over to Carl and hold him in her arms but she knew that they couldn't risk the infection spreading. "Glenn and your dad are okay, but they were in there. You shouldn't get too close to anyone that might have been exposed at least for a little while. Carl. All of you." Rick reassured them as Carl went back over to let Michonne use his shoulder as a crutch and he and Maggie brought her back into the cell block.

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><p>They hadn't really talked about everything that had happened that day. Maybe they both were just waiting for the next thing to happen. Alana followed silently behind Rick as he walked down into the field where Daryl was digging graves for the people they had lost. Daryl paused his digging for a moment when the pair walked up next to the fresh grave. "Glad you were in there." Daryl said this mainly to Rick but Alana knew that he was talking to the both of them. He kept his back to them continuing on with his digging as Rick offered his retort. "Wasn't much use without my gun." Alana wanted to smack him in the back of the head for doubting his importance but Daryl did that for her, well not exactly that, he did it in his own <em>Daryl<em> way. "No, you were. All this time you've taking off, you earned it. We wouldn't be here without you." Alana knew that his words were true. Rick was the cornerstone of their little society, that he had worked so hard to keep safe. But apparently Rick didn't agree with them that he was part of the reason that they were all even alive. "It was all of us." He told Daryl as he picked up a shovel himself and stood at the very edge of the grave.

"No, it was you first. You gonna help us figure this out?" Daryl asked as he pulled the bandana that had been covering his mouth and nose down from his face and turned back towards Rick. "I screwed up too many times. Those calls you gotta make, I start down that road... I almost lost my boy - who he was," Alana then stepped forward and took Rick's hand in her grasp, gently squeezing it to try to bring him some comfort, to remind him that he wasn't alone in this. "Whatever else this place needs, I'm here for it." Rick told Daryl as he tilted his head over a little bit to maintain eye contact with the hunter who turned back around to keep digging. "Like I said, you earned it. But for what it's worth, you see mistakes. I see when the shit hits, you're standing there with a shovel." Alana couldn't help but smile at Daryl's words. Rick took the fall for every bad thing that happened to their group but never wanted to take credit for the good things that happened because the way he saw it, with the good things they all were a part of it, they all did their share to get themselves to the point they were at. "Rick! Daryl! Alana!" Maggie called out loudly as she ran towards them slightly to get their attention. She pointed over at an area of the outer fence where Walkers were crowding together pushing the fence, causing it to bend in slightly. "Oh, shit!" Rick said as the three of them took off towards the gate that lead to the outer fence.

As they ran past the weapons used to get rid of Walkers outside the fence, Alana grabbed a crowbar that was hanging up there and quickly thrusted it into the eye socket of the closest Walker. "The noise drew 'em out and now this part's starting to give." Maggie explained as the rest of the group ran towards her, spreading out along the fenceline to thin out the herd of Walkers that crowded around there. Rick moved in alongside Alana and began to thrust the other crowbar he had grabbed from the fence into the heads of the Walkers that moved in front of him. Alana didn't look at any of the others as they filed into different spots where the Walkers were congregating, she was focused on the task at hand. Getting rid of all the Walkers that were trying to get into their home. The sounds of the Walkers and the sounds of their weapons smashing through their rotting skulls bounced through Alana's head. The only thing that pulled Alana out of her little bubble was the sound of one of their group falling to the gravel below their feet. She turned her head to see that Maggie had lost her footing and fallen to the ground and Glenn, who had been exposed to the mysterious illness in cell block D, tried to help her up to her feet but Maggie didn't let him help her up. "Don't. We're supposed to stay away from each other." She said as she pulled herself up to her feet and moved back to the fence to shove her sharpen cane into more Walkers. Alana looked down at the other end of their group and saw Sasha move away from the fence, looking down at the ground as if there was something of interest there which made Alana walk over by her.

"Are you seeing this?" Sasha said as she gestured down to the bodies of partially eaten rats that were spread out across the gravel. "Is someone feeding these things?" Rick moved up behind Alana who was staring down at the rat in confusion. Who would do something like that? Why would anyone in their group try to put all of them in danger like that? "Heads up." Daryl yelled as the fence started to bend even further. "This part of the fence, now!" Sasha called out as the group moved in to try to thin out the pile of Walkers that were weighing down the fence. "Hold on, hold on. Hey, hey, hey." Glenn said as the group moved away from the fence to see that there seemed to be no hope of being able to keep it from collapsing. "It's gonna give! It's gonna give!" Rick yelled as he pulled Alana closer to him as if her being close to him would somehow protect her from the Walkers. He pushed Alana slightly behind him as everyone except Daryl and Alana rushed forward to keep the fence from collapsing, using their strength to push back against the dead weight of the Walkers. "Everybody back! Come on back, now." Daryl yelled as the rest of the group moved back from the fence and Rick gravitated towards Alana who was looking at him for what they should do next. She needed him to tell her what to do. She didn't feel safe without him there. "Fence keeps bending in like that, those Walkers are coming over it." Sasha remarked as Rick looked around the area for anything to prevent that from happening and his gaze fell upon the pig pen. Alana knew what he was thinking and it pained her that he had to do it. "Daryl, get the truck. I know what to do." Rick said firmly but Alana knew that it was weighing on him.

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><p>Rick held onto the trailer that Daryl pulled behind the truck and watched as Maggie and Alana opened the gate for them to pass through. Be safe. Alana mouthed to him as Daryl sped through the gates and out into the meadow around the prison. Daryl drove the truck out a little ways away from the herd of Walkers at the fence. "Ready?" He called out to Rick as he began to slow down the truck. When Daryl came to an almost complete stop, Rick stood up in the trailer, he waited until he knew he had the Walkers' attentions before he reached into the wooden crate that was in the middle of it. "Let's go." Daryl told Rick. He pulled out a squealing piglet and laid it out flat across his knee before making a deep incision across the upper part of the piglet's back thigh. He then dropped the squealing piglet onto the ground and yelled for Daryl to move. After a little bit, Rick yelled for Daryl to stop and he repeated the process. He grabbed a piglet from the wooden crate, laid it out on his knee, dragged his large knife across its hind leg and dropped it to the ground, watching as Walkers practically lept for the loud screeching creature. "Alright, go. Go." Rick called out to Daryl who pressed the gas pedal and moved further away from the herd. A moments later, Rick grabbed the last piglet and made another incision on the animal, this cut sprayed blood across his face. He placed the piglet onto the ground and sat himself down on the trailer, looking absolutely defeated. He was done. He looked towards the fence where the Walkers had been threatening to spill over and saw Alana shoving a log up against the bent fence to keep it from bending that far again. They had made it through this day and they may not live til tomorrow, he wasn't leaving any regrets behind him.<p>

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><p>Rick was tearing the pig pen apart when Carl walked over to him. "Not this time." Rick said to Carl as he threw another pallet onto the pile of wood he was forming. "Think the pigs made them sick?" Carl asked his father as he ripped the pen apart, trying to get rid of every shred of its existence. "Or we made the pigs sick," He suggested because none of them knew what had caused the sickness, only that it had something to do with the pigs one way or another. "I think we should stay away from Judy a while. Just in case." He didn't want to take the chance that they may spread this illness to her. He didn't want to lose more people. "Okay." Carl said softly looking down at his hands, clearly not liking the suggestion but knowing that it was for the best. "I don't like it, but -" Rick began to say as Carl quickly interrupted him. "We have to protect her." Rick nodded at Carl and looked up past him at Alana who was standing by the barrel filled with rain water, splashing her face with the cool liquid. "So, you and Alana, huh?" Carl teased as he smirked at his father staring at the blonde woman. "You okay with that?" Rick asked cautiously, mentally crossing his fingers hoping that his son didn't have a problem with their relationship. Carl quickly nodded his head and glanced back at Alana who looked down at the pair and waved at them. "Yeah, she's cool. She makes you happy. I like you happy." Carl said truthfully as Rick smiled at his son and waved back at the blonde, gesturing for her to come down by them.<p>

"Hey, Dad." Carl began to say as Rick moved to place more wood on the pile. "Carol's been teaching the kids… how to use weapons. How to kill. Their parents don't know and she doesn't want you to know. I think you should let her. I know you're gonna say it's not up to you. But it can be." Rick glanced around at his surroundings before dumping gasoline onto his pile, almost in an aggressive way. He didn't like that Carol was teaching the children how to kill but deep down he understood the need to do so, not that he really wanted to admit it. "Dad?" Carl hesitantly said as Rick grabbed the pack of matches. "Thank you for telling me." Rick told him as he moved around the pile to place the gas canister a safe distance from the pile not wanting to take the chance that it too may catch on fire. Rick then went back so that he was standing in front of the pile next to Carl and put his hands in his pockets before talking to his son. "I won't stop her. I won't say anything." He reassured his son as he dragged a match quickly across one of the post, igniting it and tossing it onto the pile which slowly caught fire. The two of them stood in silence watching the flames until Rick walked over to the blue toolbox, opening it and calling Carl over. He then stood up and held out Carl's gun to him which he took very hesitantly. Rick crouched back down by the toolbox and pulled out his own gun belt which he clipped into place on his hips. He pulled his Python out and slipped it into the holster on his belt before slowly standing back up, moving towards Carl gently stroking over the back of his head. Rick moved to stand in front of the burning pile and gazed down at it with his hands resting on his gun belt.

Carl walked away from his father as Alana made her way down by the pig pen. "He needs you." Carl told Alana as he moved past her and jogged towards the courtyard. Alana didn't know exactly what Carl meant by that but she did know that it definitely looked like Rick needed someone to talk to. She stopped a few feet away from him and watched as he buttoned his blood covered shirt and tossed it onto the pile of wood. She let him have a few minutes to himself before she walked up behind him and wrapped her arms around his torso. At first Rick tensed at her touch but quickly relaxed when she pressed a soft kiss to his shoulderblade. Alana brought her hands up to rest over his beating heart and smiled against the skin of his shoulder when his hands came to grip hers over his heart. "Tell me what you are thinking." She whispered into his skin as he leaned his head back so that it was resting atop hers. "We lost so much today. I can't lose Carl or Judith. I can't lose you." Rick said as he turned around to face her and brought his hands up to cradle her face. He gazed down into her eyes, trying to show the sincerity of his words and she just smiled up at him. "I'm not going anywhere." She softly said to him as she stood on her tip-toes and pressed a peck to his lips. He then let his hands fall from her face and encaged her in his arms enveloping her mouth with his, suavely massaging her lips, coaxing her to open up for him, both physically and mentally. He wanted her to trust him with her whole being. To trust that he would protect her no matter what. He wanted her to let herself love him like he loved her.

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><p>Alana didn't know if she could allow herself to love Rick. She wanted to, she really did but she didn't know if she could let herself be that vulnerable again. She knew that he would keep her safe, even if that meant giving up his own life for her survival but she didn't want him to do that. She laid awake in the middle of the night, after Rick had woken her up from her nightmare by tracing her scars, with Rick's body as a cushion and pillow. They had changed positions and Alana was now laying in between Rick's legs with her torso pressed up against his, her pelvis aligned with his. She gazed at Rick's sleeping form and let her fingers drift across his scruff covered cheek. Could she love this man? Could she let herself be that vulnerable and not get hurt? She really hoped she could.<p>

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><p><em><strong>Author's Note: <strong>_

_**There it is! Chapter Two of The Road! I hoped you guys liked it! Tell me your thoughts in the reviews! If you have any questions for me about this story and maybe where exactly it is going, just leave a review and I will see if I can answer your question without giving away too much. Thank you so much for reading! And thank you guys for giving my story a chance! Give Alick (Alana/Rick) some love! Because aren't they so fucking cute! Until the next chapter, I hope you guys really liked it! I hope to have the next chapter up within the next week! BYE!**_


	4. Chapter 3 Preview

**Author's note: **

**So me being the dumby that I am deleted the preview for the previous chapter thinking that would make things easier for people when it apparently stopped people from being able to comment on the actual chapter. Well, I won't do that again. What I am gonna do is post a little preview before each chapter and then I will post the actual chapter once I am finished with it. Here is the preview to chapter three which should be up the beginning of this next week.**

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><p><em><strong>Chapter | Three Preview<strong>_

"You know some people actually like to sleep." Alana commented sleepily as she peeked at the man who was the cause of her waking up through lidded eyes. She scrunched her face at the light that floated into their cell and quickly pressed her face against his chest, trying her best to block the annoyingly bright sunlight. She was greeted by a low throaty chuckle that was heavily laced with sleep, just like her own voice was as his hand danced up and down her spine with feather-like touches of his fingertips, egging her on, knowing full well that she liked her sleep. "Stop touching me." Alana warned Rick as he just continued on with his touching like she hadn't just used her I will gut you like one of Daryl's rabbits voice. "What you gonna do, Ballerina? Threaten my testicles again?" He asked her in a thick voice that made Alana giggle. His hand drifted down further to the base of her spine, creeping towards the edge of the panties that she had put back on at some point the previous night. Not that either of them really remembered when they had put on their undergarments, all they remembered was the closeness they had with each other. "I only threaten your testicles when you are being a stupid male." She said matter of factly as he brought his other hand up to cradle her face, brushing her golden tendrils out of her eyes to gaze into their oasis blue pools. She smiled up at him, moving up his body so that her face was hovering directly over his. She brushed her nose against his and tugged her bottom lip in between her teeth as she watched his pupils dilate with desire. There was a mischievous smirk formed on her lips as she moved in even closer to Rick and nipped at his bottom lip gently, pulling lightly at it when she managed to snag it between her teeth. She chuckled at the low moan that echoed through Rick's throat and allowed her lips to fully envelop his in a kiss that held more emotion than she thought she had in her. His large hand buried itself in the hair at the back of her head, holding her ungodly close to himself, and they kissed for what seemed like an eternity.

But their drunken euphoria didn't last. It was interrupted by none other than Mr. Dixon making his way into their cell. "What is going on?" Rick asked as Alana did her best to keep herself covered so Daryl didn't see anything he didn't need to. All Daryl did was shake his head at Rick with a lost look on his face. This made both Rick and Alana maneuver themselves out from under their sheets and briskly pull on some clothes. Alana's mind went to the worst case scenario and she tried to prepare herself for whatever Daryl was taking them to see. No amount of preparation could have readied her for what they walked into.

It was the smell that really got to her. The fact that she now knew what burnt human flesh smelled like and couldn't ever erase that from her memory, made her sick. Her gaze drifted between the charred remains of Karen and David to the distraught form of Tyreese who was staring down at the corpses in utter disbelief. Alana could only imagine what was going through his mind in that moment. She glanced over at Rick who had an unreadable expression on his face and she really wondered how much of this he could take. She knew why Tyreese had wanted Rick to be there. He wanted Rick to solve the crime, to find the killer but how exactly could he do that with little to no resources without giving the killer the advantage against him. "You found them like this?" Rick asked Tyreese hesitantly as the other man turned towards the former sheriff's deputy. "I came to see Karen…" Tyreese began. There was a distance in his voice as if he wasn't all there, not that Alana or really any of them blamed him. He had just found the woman he loved and another member of their group burnt beyond recognition. "And I saw the blood on the floor. Then I smelled them," Alana raised her hand up to her mouth, trying to keep her cries to herself. She couldn't imagine the pain he was in right then and she wanted to be able to take that pain from him. "Somebody dragged them out here and set them on fire," His voice grew louder with each word to the point that he was yelling and his voice cracked with heavy emotion. "They killed them and set them on fire!" Tyreese then took a few steps towards Rick that had both Daryl and Alana ready to pounce on the bigger man if he made the wrong move. "You're a cop," Tyreese said forcefully as Rick bowed his head, obviously not liking the pressuring that was being put on him. Alana was watching Rick more than she was watching Tyreese. First of all, she knew that Daryl could handle Tyreese if things came to that point and second of all, she knew that Rick didn't want to be responsible for something that could very well end with a good man like Tyreese doing something that he would later regret. They all knew that he wasn't a killer. "You find out who did this and you bring 'em to me. You understand? You bring 'em to me." Tyreese took a small step closer to Rick practically drowning him in his shadow and Daryl could tell that this wasn't helping anything so he moved to pull Tyreese back a few steps from Rick but Tyreese shook Daryl's hand from his arm and moved even closer to Rick. "I need to say it again?" Alana wasn't liking the way Tyreese was treating Rick at all but she knew that she couldn't do anything if she didn't want to set him off and potentially cause more problems for Rick.

"No. No. I know what you're feeling," Rick responded softly so he didn't somehow set Tyreese off. Lori. Alana thought to herself. That's who he is talking about. Alana knew that Lori still had some sort of hold on Rick. More of a mental hold on him than anything. He still felt that pain one felt when they felt they had failed someone. Of course his failing had resulted in her death but his failing had also resulted in Judith being alive. "I've been there. You saw me there. It's dangerous." Rick was trying to reason with Tyreese, at least get him level headed but he wasn't having any of it. "Karen didn't deserve this." Tyreese said loudly as Rick shook his head, agreeing with the other man. "David didn't deserve it. Nobody does." What was really making Alana mad was that Tyreese was acting like this horrible thing had happened because of Rick, because he wasn't being a good leader. Alana made to try to get in between the two men but Daryl beat her to it, hooking a hand around Tyreese's upper arm only for the other man to lash out and shove him roughly against the bars separating the two areas. "Man, I ain't going nowhere till I find out who did this!" Tyreese yelled as he fisted Daryl's vest in his hands and was practically screaming in the hunter's face. Rick, Carol and Alana moved forward to give Daryl some back up but he stopped them with a raised hand as he tried to reason with Tyreese, which Alana didn't really think would work at all but she supported whatever route they wanted to go about this. "We're on the same side, man." Daryl practically growled at Tyreese, showing Alana that he too was done with the man's hostility towards the people trying to help him. "Hey, look, I know what you're going through," Rick said this cautiously as he edged over towards the pair, wanting to get Daryl away from Tyreese before the man did something that he'd really regret doing. "We've all lost someone. We know what you're going through right now, but you've got to calm down." Alana opened her mouth to warn Rick against even getting near the enraged man but the moment she went to speak, Rick placed his hand on Tyreese's shoulder and the other man did exactly what Alana had expected to happen. He braced his forearm against Rick's chest and shoved him back, yelling You need to step the hell back! Rick only made things worse when he told Tyreese that Karen wouldn't want him to act this way.

Alana had seen the punch coming before it was even delivered but she wasn't able to react quick enough to yell out to Rick to watch out. The first punch caused Rick to fall onto one knee with his hand bracing himself from falling fully to the ground. "Stop! Stop!" Carol yelled moving towards the pair but Daryl quickly stopped the woman from doing so. That left Alana open. She didn't have a level-headed hunter to be a blockade keeping her from advancing on Tyreese who likely wouldn't care who he had to hit if it got him closer to Karen and David's killer. Alana ran forward trying to shove Tyreese away from her Sheriff but she quickly wished she hadn't, especially when Tyreese's fist met her right eye causing her to plummet to the ground, smashing her head with the concrete that had been below her feet not a second before. The spot where his fist had landed a solid hit pulsed and throbbed in pain. Alana watched as Daryl grabbed Tyreese from behind and pulled him away from Rick who slowly staggered up to his feet. Alana had expected him to come see if she was alright but she was all but forgotten to Rick in that moment. She saw it all play out in front of her and all she could think about was how Joe handled wrongdoings against his people, beat them to death. Rick swung his fist into Tyreese's face with all his strength, causing the man to fall from Daryl's grasp onto all fours which Rick took as an opportunity to kick the living crap out of him. With a swift kick to his lung, Tyreese fell onto his back and Rick placed his feet on either side of his body, repeatedly smashing his hand into the side of Tyreese's face until Daryl stepped in and pulled him away from the wheezing man curled up on the concrete.

Alana had never seen Rick so crazed before. "Let go of me!" He kept screaming in agony as he thrashed and threw his weight around while locked in between Daryl's arms. He looked like a caged animal. A hand extended out to her and Alana looked up to see Carol standing above her with her hand outstretched, ready to pull her up to her feet. Alana took her hand and got up to her feet, wobbling a little bit from the pain echoing through her head from the spot where Tyreese had punched her and from the spot where her head had connected with the concrete. "Rick," She called out in a small voice but the man didn't respond, he just kept fighting against Daryl. "Rick!" She yelled with all her strength gaining the man in question's attention. He stilled all his movements and looked over at her. She then stumbled forward only for Carol to catch her with a firm hand wrapping around her bicep. This made Rick snap out of it. It registered in his stupid male animal brain that she had been hurt and he didn't even argue when Carol suggested that the two of them went to Hershel so he could take a look at them. Stupid brutish men. Stupid testosterone. Alana thought to herself as Rick moved over by her, cradling her head in his hands, inspecting her wounds. She shoved his hands away from her and turned away to walk towards the cell block to go to Hershel. She wasn't happy with Rick in that moment. She couldn't look at him in that moment because all she saw was the face of The Claimers who had always been so angry when they beat her with their fists. The pain that they had inflicted on her resonated through her body and she tried her best to stop it but the pain enveloped her and everything just went black.

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><p><strong>Author's Note:<strong>

**Well that was the preview for chapter three which I hope to have done within the next two days! Tell me what you guys think of the story so far, what you think about Alana so far and if you liked the little preview! Thanks so much you guys for taking the time to read! **

**itsYOUiSEVER**


	5. Chapter 3

**Author's Note:**

***vigorous jazz hands* I'M BACK! I love writing this story! haha. I would like to thank Katarzyna88gb for messaging me last chapter and giving me some really awesome advice. I also would like to thank all those who have favorited/followed/reviewed my story. Shout out to the newcomers! Thanks for giving my story here a look! **

_**Guest: Is there going to be a side pairing of Beth and Daryl in this?**_

_I will answer this question with a yes and no, basically a maybe. I don't want to have a side pairing where I add in scenes for them when I go _oh I haven't had a Bethyl scene in a while. _That, to me, takes away from the pairing which I ship wholeheartedly. I am focusing on my OC because that is what this story is, Alana's story of her survival amongst Team Prison. Daryl and Beth are listed in the "main" characters because those two are major characters who make a lasting impact on Alana. I could very well have put Hershel and Carl in their spots and it'd still have the same meaning. I am not opposed to a side pairing of Bethyl because, well, they're my OTP but I will write it in if the story takes me that way. I won't force it. _

**I am trying to write this story in a way where the story takes me, I know how silly that sounds but that is how it is. And I will explain this more at the end of the chapter and give you an example of it from this chapter! I will keep this author's note shorter for you guys so you can get straight to reading the chapter! Thanks for reading and I'd love to hear you guys' thoughts!**

**The song for this chapter is "All I Want" By A Day To Remember**

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><p><strong>The Road<strong>

_Alana didn't know if she could allow herself to love Rick. She wanted to, she really did but she didn't know if she could let herself be that vulnerable again. She knew that he would keep her safe, even if that meant giving up his own life for her survival but she didn't want him to do that. She laid awake in the middle of the night, after Rick had woken her up from her nightmare by tracing her scars, with Rick's body as a cushion and pillow. They had changed positions and Alana was now laying in between Rick's legs with her torso pressed up against his, her pelvis aligned with his. She gazed at Rick's sleeping form and let her fingers drift across his scruff covered cheek. Could she love this man? Could she let herself be that vulnerable and not get hurt? She really hoped she could._

_**Chapter | Three**_

"You know some people actually like to sleep." Alana commented sleepily as she peeked at the man who was the cause of her waking up through lidded eyes. She scrunched her face at the light that floated into their cell and quickly pressed her face against his chest, trying her best to block the annoyingly bright sunlight. She was greeted by a low throaty chuckle that was heavily laced with sleep, just like her own voice was as his hand danced up and down her spine with feather-like touches of his fingertips, egging her on, knowing full well that she liked her sleep. "Stop touching me." Alana warned Rick as he just continued on with his touching like she hadn't just used her _I will gut you like one of Daryl's rabbits_ voice. "What you gonna do, Ballerina? Threaten my testicles again?" He asked her in a thick voice that made Alana giggle. His hand drifted down further to the base of her spine, creeping towards the edge of the panties that she had put back on at some point the previous night. Not that either of them really remembered when they had put on their undergarments, all they remembered was the closeness they had with each other. "I only threaten your testicles when you are being a stupid male." She said matter of factly as he brought his other hand up to cradle her face, brushing her golden tendrils out of her eyes to gaze into their oasis blue pools. She smiled up at him, moving up his body so that her face was hovering directly over his. She brushed her nose against his and tugged her bottom lip in between her teeth as she watched his pupils dilate with desire. There was a mischievous smirk formed on her lips as she moved in even closer to Rick and nipped at his bottom lip gently, pulling lightly at it when she managed to snag it between her teeth. She chuckled at the low moan that echoed through Rick's throat and allowed her lips to fully envelop his in a kiss that held more emotion than she thought she had in her. His large hand buried itself in the hair at the back of her head, holding her ungodly close to himself, and they kissed for what seemed like an eternity.

But their drunken euphoria didn't last. It was interrupted by none other than Mr. Dixon making his way into their cell. "What is going on?" Rick asked as Alana did her best to keep herself covered so Daryl didn't see anything he didn't need to. All Daryl did was shake his head at Rick with a lost look on his face. This made both Rick and Alana maneuver themselves out from under their sheets and briskly pull on some clothes. Alana's mind went to the worst case scenario and she tried to prepare herself for whatever Daryl was taking them to see. No amount of preparation could have readied her for what they walked into.

It was the smell that really got to her. The fact that she now knew what burnt human flesh smelled like and couldn't ever erase that from her memory, made her sick. Her gaze drifted between the charred remains of Karen and David to the distraught form of Tyreese who was staring down at the corpses in utter disbelief. Alana could only imagine what was going through his mind in that moment. She glanced over at Rick who had an unreadable expression on his face and she really wondered how much of this he could take. She knew why Tyreese had wanted Rick to be there. He wanted Rick to solve the crime, to find the killer but how exactly could he do that with little to no resources without giving the killer the advantage against him. "You found them like this?" Rick asked Tyreese hesitantly as the other man turned towards the former sheriff's deputy. "I came to see Karen…" Tyreese began. There was a distance in his voice as if he wasn't all there, not that Alana or really any of them blamed him. He had just found the woman he loved and another member of their group burnt beyond recognition. "And I saw the blood on the floor. Then I smelled them," Alana raised her hand up to her mouth, trying to keep her cries to herself. She couldn't imagine the pain he was in right then and she wanted to be able to take that pain from him. "Somebody dragged them out here and set them on fire," His voice grew louder with each word to the point that he was yelling and his voice cracked with heavy emotion. "They killed them and set them on fire!" Tyreese then took a few steps towards Rick that had both Daryl and Alana ready to pounce on the bigger man if he made the wrong move. "You're a cop," Tyreese said forcefully as Rick bowed his head, obviously not liking the pressuring that was being put on him. Alana was watching Rick more than she was watching Tyreese. First of all, she knew that Daryl could handle Tyreese if things came to that point and second of all, she knew that Rick didn't want to be responsible for something that could very well end with a good man like Tyreese doing something that he would later regret. They all knew that he wasn't a killer. "You find out who did this and you bring 'em to me. You understand? You bring 'em to me." Tyreese took a small step closer to Rick practically drowning him in his shadow and Daryl could tell that this wasn't helping anything so he moved to pull Tyreese back a few steps from Rick but Tyreese shook Daryl's hand from his arm and moved even closer to Rick. "I need to say it again?" Alana wasn't liking the way Tyreese was treating Rick at all but she knew that she couldn't do anything if she didn't want to set him off and potentially cause more problems for Rick.

"No. No. I know what you're feeling," Rick responded softly so he didn't somehow set Tyreese off. _Lori. _Alana thought to herself. _That's who he is talking about. _Alana knew that Lori still had some sort of hold on Rick. More of a mental hold on him than anything. He still felt that pain one felt when they felt they had failed someone. Of course his _failing _had resulted in her death but his _failing _had also resulted in Judith being alive. "I've been there. You saw me there. It's dangerous." Rick was trying to reason with Tyreese, at least get him level headed but he wasn't having any of it. "Karen didn't deserve this." Tyreese said loudly as Rick shook his head, agreeing with the other man. "David didn't deserve it. Nobody does." What was really making Alana mad was that Tyreese was acting like this horrible thing had happened because of Rick, because he wasn't being a good leader. Alana made to try to get in between the two men but Daryl beat her to it, hooking a hand around Tyreese's upper arm only for the other man to lash out and shove him roughly against the bars separating the two areas. "Man, I ain't going nowhere till I find out who did this!" Tyreese yelled as he fisted Daryl's vest in his hands and was practically screaming in the hunter's face. Rick, Carol and Alana moved forward to give Daryl some back up but he stopped them with a raised hand as he tried to reason with Tyreese, which Alana didn't really think would work at all but she supported whatever route they wanted to go about this. "We're on the same side, man." Daryl practically growled at Tyreese, showing Alana that he too was done with the man's hostility towards the people trying to help him. "Hey, look, I know what you're going through," Rick said this cautiously as he edged over towards the pair, wanting to get Daryl away from Tyreese before the man did something that he'd really regret doing. "We've all lost someone. We know what you're going through right now, but you've got to calm down." Alana opened her mouth to warn Rick against even getting near the enraged man but the moment she went to speak, Rick placed his hand on Tyreese's shoulder and the other man did exactly what Alana had expected to happen. He braced his forearm against Rick's chest and shoved him back, yelling _You need to step the hell back! _Rick only made things worse when he told Tyreese that Karen wouldn't want him to act this way.

Alana had seen the punch coming before it was even delivered but she wasn't able to react quick enough to yell out to Rick to watch out. The first punch caused Rick to fall onto one knee with his hand bracing himself from falling fully to the ground. "Stop! Stop!" Carol yelled moving towards the pair but Daryl quickly stopped the woman from doing so. That left Alana open. She didn't have a level-headed hunter to be a blockade keeping her from advancing on Tyreese who likely wouldn't care who he had to hit if it got him closer to Karen and David's killer. Alana ran forward trying to shove Tyreese away from her _Sheriff_ but she quickly wished she hadn't, especially when Tyreese's fist met her right eye causing her to plummet to the ground, smashing her head with the concrete that had been below her feet not a second before. The spot where his fist had landed a solid hit pulsed and throbbed in pain. Alana watched as Daryl grabbed Tyreese from behind and pulled him away from Rick who slowly staggered up to his feet. Alana had expected him to come see if she was alright but she was all but forgotten to Rick in that moment. She saw it all play out in front of her and all she could think about was how Joe handled _wrongdoings _against his people, _beat them to death_. Rick swung his fist into Tyreese's face with all his strength, causing the man to fall from Daryl's grasp onto all fours which Rick took as an opportunity to kick the living crap out of him. With a swift kick to his lung, Tyreese fell onto his back and Rick placed his feet on either side of his body, repeatedly smashing his hand into the side of Tyreese's face until Daryl stepped in and pulled him away from the wheezing man curled up on the concrete.

Alana had never seen Rick so crazed before. "Let go of me!" He kept screaming in agony as he thrashed and threw his weight around while locked in between Daryl's arms. He looked like a caged animal. A hand extended out to her and Alana looked up to see Carol standing above her with her hand outstretched, ready to pull her up to her feet. Alana took her hand and got up to her feet, wobbling a little bit from the pain echoing through her head from the spot where Tyreese had punched her and from the spot where her head had connected with the concrete. "Rick," She called out in a small voice but the man didn't respond, he just kept fighting against Daryl. "Rick!" She yelled with all her strength gaining the man in question's attention. He stilled all his movements and looked over at her. She then stumbled forward only for Carol to catch her with a firm hand wrapping around her bicep. This made Rick snap out of it. It registered in his stupid male animal brain that she had been hurt and he didn't even argue when Carol suggested that the two of them went to Hershel so he could take a look at them. _Stupid brutish men. Stupid testosterone. _Alana thought to herself as Rick moved over by her, cradling her head in his hands, inspecting her wounds. She shoved his hands away from her and turned away to walk towards the cell block to go to Hershel. She wasn't happy with Rick in that moment. She couldn't look at him in that moment because all she saw was the face of The Claimers who had always been so angry when they beat her with their fists. The pain that they had inflicted on her resonated through her body and she tried her best to stop it but the pain enveloped her and everything just went black.

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><p>"This is gonna be sprained for at least a week. Good news, none of these cuts need stitches," Hershel informed Rick as he cleaned the lacerations on Rick's right hand with cotton balls. The former sheriff's deputy glanced over at Alana who was sat on the edge of the bottom bunk in Hershel's cell staring at the blank, gray wall with an emotionless expression on her face. A bruise around her eye was already forming, a bluish-purple hue surrounding her eye socket like a raccoon's bandit eyes. Tyreese had socked her pretty hard but the real damage was just on the surface. He knew that she was pissed at the world and at him. She was pissed at him for making Hershel check her over after she had managed to make herself pass out hyperventilating as she walked away from him. She was pissed at the world for reasons he didn't fully know why. She was a complex human being and he didn't know how to get through her head. At least not right at that moment. He'd have to wait until she wasn't mad at him anymore. "I wouldn't plan on much typing the next few days," Hershel joked as Rick turned his attention back to the floor of the cell. Though Rick didn't react to his words, Hershel did get a little chuckle out of Alana. "You okay?" Hershel asked as Rick glanced up at the former vet and winced when the older man dabbed at his knuckles one last time before he picked up the roll of gauze in his hands. "It hurts." Rick mumbled as Alana scoffed loudly to herself which drew both of the men's attentions in her direction. "I wasn't talking about the hand," Hershel remarked as he began to wrap the gauze around Rick's knuckles. "We just went through something terrible. Everything we've been working so hard to keep out, it found its way in."<p>

At this point, Alana's attention turned towards the two men and she listened intently to their conversation, watching their body language, well, mostly Rick's body language, when they spoke. She watched as Rick shook his head at Hershel's words and glanced back at his gun belt as if it were the cause of violent outburst against Tyreese. "No. It's always there." He said as he looked over at Alana who held his gaze with such intensity that he had to focus his attention elsewhere. She was trying to tell him that this didn't make him a bad person, it just said that he was human, but he didn't really receive that message. "Council meeting this afternoon," Hershel randomly stated which had both Rick and Alana raising an eyebrow at the white-haired man, silently questioning why he was informing either of them of this when neither of them were a part of the Council. "Thought you should know. We just lost 12 of our own. Two more were killed in cold blood. We could be facing an outbreak." Hershel continued as Rick just shook his head and looked off into nothingness. "I think I've done enough damage for one day." He replied as Alana rolled her eyes and ran her fingers through her hair to keep herself from clenching her hands into fists. "I've fallen off the wagon before." Hershel said so nonchalantly as if that was exactly what had happened with Rick. The way Alana saw it, both Tyreese and Rick had been hyped up on adrenaline and high emotions. She didn't totally understand why Hershel was comparing it to him falling back into alcoholism. "That's what this is?" Rick asked, just as confused as Alana was to Hershel's old man analogy. "Pretty close," was all Hershel said, no further explanation which made Alana laugh at tiny bit. "When it happened, I didn't stand around feeling bad about it. I got back up. I had responsibilities. People to keep safe." As Hershel said people to keep safe, Alana saw him flick his eyes over to her for a moment and she knew what he was trying to do, and it wasn't going to happen. Alana knew that Rick wasn't always going to be around so she needed to figure out a way to deal with her demons without him, and that was what she was going to do.

Hershel finished with Rick's bandages and the bearded man looked over at Alana expectantly as if he thought she was obliged to follow him out but she just sat there on the bottom bunk and shook her head at him. She needed a moment alone with Hershel. She needed to talk to someone other than Rick. She could see Rick slowly moving out of the cell, glancing back at her over his shoulder and she knew that he didn't understand her distance at all. Hershel waited until Rick was out of earshot before he carried the chair he had been sitting on over and placed it in front of Alana. He sat down on the seat, looking at her curiously and he waited for her to speak first. He didn't push her. Just like Rick. She thought to herself sadly as tears formed in her eyes. "I saw them," She whispered to Hershel who leaned in closer so that he could hear her clearly. "The men who gave me the scars. I saw them in him today." Hershel let her get her emotions out and allowed her to silently cry to herself. He knew exactly what she meant. She had mentioned them to him before but had never gone into detail about what had happened. Hell, he had seen her scars so he could definitely imagine what had happened to her. "Saw them in who, Alana?" Hershel asked her cautiously as she looked over at him from behind her tears and she didn't even have to clarify it for him, he knew. In Rick's adrenaline hopped up rage, she had seen Joe and that terrified her. "I looked in his eyes and I saw them. How could I see them in him, Hershel? He'd never hurt me so why did I see them in there?" She pleaded with him, just wanting an answer to keep herself sane but he didn't have one. She had to figure that out herself. She had to figure out how to distinguish between the good and the bad. Alana got up from the bunk bed and went to leave the cell but Hershel's voice stopped her. "Come to the council meeting, Alana." That was all he said to her as she looked back at him out of the corner of her eye. "Okay." She replied softly as she left the cell. She was doing this for herself. She wasn't going to depend on Rick. She was going to be strong.

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><p>Alana felt out of place standing amongst the Council members. She was standing behind Daryl, leaning against a bookshelf as she listened to Hershel begin to meeting. "It's spread. Everyone who survived the attack in cell block D. Sasha, Caleb, and now others." Daryl hung his head low and uttered, <em>Oh, Jesus,<em> as Alana shifted uncomfortably. All she could think about was how she didn't belong there. She wasn't an important member of the group; not like Daryl, Carol, Glenn, Michonne or Hershel were. Her importance stopped at being the object of Rick's affection. She was there to keep him sane. That was her importance or at least that was what she felt her importance was. "So what do we do?" Carol asked addressing the entire group but mainly Hershel. "First things first. Cell block A is isolation. We keep the sick people there like we tried with Karen and David." Hershel said as Alana scoffed at the mention of Karen and David. A whole lot of good isolation did for them. They were dead and others were infected. "What the hell we gonna do about that?" Daryl asked as he glanced back at Alana who just shook her head at him. He was silently asking her if she thought Rick was up to doing what people were gonna be expecting him to do. _Find Karen and David's killer._ Alana didn't like the idea of putting that kind of pressure on Rick especially after what had happened in D. She didn't know how much he could handle before he went off the wagon like she had been told he did when Lori had died. "Ask Rick to look into it. Try to make a timeline- who's where when," Carol replied as Alana fixed her gaze on the other woman and she wondered exactly how much she thought Rick could take before he would crack.

"Yes, have Rick look for their killer and what happens if he doesn't find them? We all know that Rick will put that blame on himself. He will tell himself that their killer being loose is his fault just like he is probably doing about D. You want to put that burden on him, you're gonna have to explore more options before I agree to letting him potentially eating himself alive with guilt if he were to fail." Alana voiced as all of them looked over at her but said absolutely nothing because they knew she was right. He had been their leader for so long that even after he had stepped down from the leadership position he still took the blame for everything that went wrong in their group. "But what are we gonna do to stop this?" Carol quickly brushed past Alana's comment and she could only roll her eyes. She'd be sure to bring it up later because she wasn't letting Rick take that burden without putting up a fight first. "There is no stopping it. You get it, you have to go through it." Hershel told them seriously as everything seemed to fall around them. As far as they knew, there was no way to prevent the sickness. If that didn't make things seem absolutely hopeless, Alana didn't know what did. "But it just kills you?" Michonne caught the words that Hershel had used, you have to go throught it, like there was a way to fight it. "The illness doesn't. The symptoms do. We need antibiotics." All Alana knew was that she was gonna do whatever she had to to get those antibiotics, she'd make the trek herself if she had to. "We've been through every pharmacy nearby. And then some." Leave it to Daryl to point out that there wasn't anything to find nearby for those sick people which meant there would be a hell of a bigger risk of death or being separated from a group if they were to try to go for those antibiotics. "That veterinary college at West Peachtree Tech, that's one place people may not have thought to raid for medication. The drugs for animals there are the same we need." Alana looked over at the white-haired man in curiousity wondering exactly how thoroughly this man had thought all this through because he had an answer to all of their questions. "That's 50 miles. Too big a risk before. Ain't now. I'm gonna take a group out. Best not waste any more time." Daryl stated as Michonne quickly volunteered to go with him on that run and Alana was right after her. She was going to help. It was what Rick would do if she was one of those sick and close to death. She'd do it if he was in there: him, Carl or Judith. Though she hadn't flat out said that she was going with them because she didn't want Hershel to pull the doctor card and saw that after her little episode that morning she needed to stay back so he could monitor her.

"You haven't been exposed. Daryl has. You get in a car with him..." Hershel warned Michonne, making sure she knew the risk she was putting herself in just getting into the car with him but she was already putting herself at risk going outside those fences, there wasn't much difference. "He's already given me fleas." She joked as Alana chuckled at her words, because she wouldn't be surprised if Daryl had given her fleas, he had an aversion to showers and being clean. "I can lead the way. I know where everything's kept." Hershel said as he stood up from his chair and Alana raised an eyebrow at him. He was crazy if he thought going on this run would a good decision with his gimp leg and all. "Hops, I don't think that'd be a good idea." Alana commented as she flicked her head down at his peg leg. "When we're out there, it's always the same. Sooner or later we run." Daryl was slightly nicer about his pointing out that Hershel would likely end up Walker bait if he came with them. If worst things came to worst, they'd end up having to hightail it out of there and Hershel wouldn't be able to do that with his fake leg. He'd be a liability and Alana knew he didn't want to end up being the reason someone else got hurt or bit. "I can draw you a map," He told them as he went to sit back down. "There are other precautions I feel we should take." Precautions? Precautions with what? Alana asked herself silently as Carol voiced Alana's question, sort of. Carol knew what it was that Hershel was talking about. Those who hadn't been exposed to whatever disease had attacked cell block D. "There's no telling how long it'll be before Daryl and his group return. Wouldn't it make sense for us to separate the most vulnerable? We can use the administration building. Separate office, separate room." Alana agreed with Hershel. It would make sense to separate those who hadn't been exposed to the illness from those who had to ensure that at least some of them could survive if worst things came to worse. "Who is the most vulnerable?" Glenn asked as Hershel looked over at the younger man. Alana knew who those people were; the young and the older, essentially those with the weakest immune systems. But who would protect them if things got out of hand? They couldn't account for everything. There were too many ways for things to go wrong.

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><p>Alana stood beside Rick and watched as Carol tried to get water out of the pump but only got a tiny trickle of water. It was insanely frustrating to watch, knowing that there was water out there but the line was clogged up. Alana had half the mind to just run out there and unclog it herself but there were too many Walkers in that area. That mission would have to be an organized effort to be able to ensure everyone's safety. "Give me another go at it." Rick said as he moved forward to roll the wheel powering the pump but Carol shook her head at him. "The whole line's mudded up. The end is dragging the bottom again. We'll have to go out there and clear it. Set the bird, go out through the tombs, swing around through the forest route." The older woman was adamant on getting this done right then and there but Rick had had enough excitement for one day and he knew that Alana felt the same way because when he glanced back at her to get her silent input on the matter, she ever so subtly shook her head at him, just so that he could see. "We got enough for now. That's tomorrow's problem." Rick replied as Alana agreed with him. They had enough to worry about with moving the vulnerable to the quarantine zone and making sure that the group that was making the trek to Peachtree Tech had all the supplies they needed, they didn't need to add this to their long list of shit to do. "Rick, five more people have come down with it since Sasha went in. There's not a lot of us left. What if you get sick? What if I do? What if Alana does?" Alana hadn't expected to be brought up into the conversation, she was used to being a part of the background. She raised an eyebrow at the older woman and wondered exactly she was trying to accomplish. To Alana it seemed like she wanted to throw every problem they had on Rick. "What if we get in trouble out there and don't come back? Let's get this up to the people who need it. Let's get what we have to get done first." Rick tried to keep Carol focused on the task at hand, getting the water they could up to the sick. He held out one of the buckets of water out to Alana and gently squeezed her shoulder as he passed her.<p>

"Is Carl pretty pissed about going into quarantine?" Carol asked the bearded man as the trio moved towards the yard. "Of course. But it's better to be safe." Rick quickly responded as Alana smiled, knowing full well that Carl was just as stubborn as his father was. Alana glanced over to her left and stopped her movements to watch Tyreese who had been digging since that morning. She felt Rick stop next to her and look over at the man who he had beaten the living shit out of less than probably five hours earlier. "Always better to be safe. You should talk to him." Carol suggested as Rick looked over at Alana silently asking if she would be okay with facing the man after what he had done to her, not that she blamed him at all for his actions, he hadn't been in control of his emotions and Alana knew what grief did to a person. "We should all pay our respects." Rick said as Carol grabbed the water bucket from Alana's hand and told them that she would take the buckets up to the people who needed them, that she would meet them over there. Alana and Rick both knew that Carol was trying to get them to talk through this with Tyreese, to talk about the entire thing; how he had hit Alana, how he had thrown blame in Rick's direction and how Rick had gone postal on Tyreese. They needed to get all of that out in the open, Alana knew that, didn't mean that she had to like it.

Rick turned towards Alana and looked her in the eyes, surveying over her face, taking in her expression which told him absolutely nothing about what was going through her mind, stopping at the nasty black eye that had formed around her eye. He stepped towards her and brushed his thumb lightly across the purple hue that shaded her face. "I'm sorry I let this happen to you." He whispered to her as he leaned in and pressed a soft kiss on the blumish. "You would have done the same thing if I had been in your position. Plus I think I rock the one-eyed raccoon look." She joked to him as he chuckled and moved to walk over by Tyreese. Alana walked briskly to catch up with Rick who reached for her hand and she didn't stop him from intertwining their fingers. She knew that he was doing this more for her own benefit than his own and she appreciated the gesture. They stopped a few feet away from where Tyreese was patting down the freshly dug graves and waiting for the other man to notice their presence before either of them spoke. Alana noticed the bracelet that Tyreese was holding in his hand and she wanted to bury her face in Rick's shoulder to hide the tears that were forming in her eyes. "I'm sorry about what happened. What I did to you. Everything." Rick said solemnly as Tyreese looked over at the pair and turned the bracelet over in his hands. "It's on both of us," He told him as Alana gripped Rick's hand. "You got to find who did this." His words were a plea to Rick, asking Rick to find him some sort of closure and Rick knew the closure he was looking for but he also knew that he couldn't give it to him. He had to find it on his own. "I didn't know David much. Did you?" Rick asked Tyreese as Alana felt him bring their joined hands to rest on the handle of his python, the place where his hand naturally drifted to. Tyreese nodded his head at Rick's question and then Rick dared to ask if either Karen or David had anyone who had any problems with them.

Tyreese took a dangerous step towards the pair and Alana instinctively took a step away from the man, pulling Rick with her by their conjoined hands. "No. No way. I was with her all the time, every day. She got along with everybody. Same with David." Tyreese told them as Rick glanced over at Alana, making sure that she wasn't going to end up passing out again from a panic attack. "They were the only two who were sick. The person who did it might be trying to stop this thing from spreading." Rick made the observation and Alana saw the soundness of that assumption. It made sense. Get rid of the only two sources of the illness they had at that point in time and possibly prevent the spread. "They didn't. Now Sasha has it." Tyreese just couldn't catch a break. He found his girlfriend's charred corpse that morning after she had come down with the same illness his sister now had. "Look, whoever it was who did this, they're not going anywhere. We'll find them." Rick was trying to keep the other man calm but it wasn't working. He let go of Alana's hand and moved ever so slightly in front of her to act as a barrier between the two of them if things took a turn for the violent. "Today? Right now? Because I'm not feeling the urgency. All I see you doing is pumping water. In fact, what I'm picking up is murder is okay in this place now." Tyreese was pointing his finger right at Rick, practically blaming him for their deaths and Alana wasn't going to let him do that at all. She didn't care what happened, she wasn't letting him fill Rick's head with this bullshit. Alana moved out from behind Rick and shoved Tyreese as hard as she could in his chest, causing him to stumble back a little bit. "We have people who are sick, who need medicine, people who are depending on us to keep them safe and you want to turn your back to them to look for a killer who very well knows that we are looking for them! News flash, Hammer-Time, their death's were not Rick's fault! He didn't kill them! Everyone is scared shitless right now and everyone is looking to him for guidance. He is just one fucking man! Back off or I will make you back off." Alana screamed at the man in front of her who just walked off, leaving her in a state of anger that she wanted to get rid of. She needed to hit something, anything. She bent down and picked up the shovel that was laying at her feet, throwing it as far as she could towards the fence. She felt Rick move up behind her as she tried to keep her from breaking down entirely, letting her emotions take over her. "C'mon, let's go check on Carl and his packing." Rick softly said to her as she turned with him and allowed him to lead her up to the cell block.

Carl was acting like a normal pissed off teenager as he packed his things like his father had asked him to. Both Alana and Rick were leaning against the doorway of the cell, watching the teen as he shoved each object into his backpack. One particular item caught Alana's attention: a photo of Rick, Carl, and Lori, a family photo. They looked so happy then, at peace and all that had been ripped away in an instant. Rick's voice cut through the awkward silence that lingered over them and Alana was happy that he had spoken and she didn't have to. "It's for your own good." He told his son as Carl angrily zipped up his backpack and Alana almost wanted to laugh at the teen angst he was radiating. "I'm fine," Carl gritted through his teeth, showing Rick and Alana that he was the opposite of fine with the whole situation. The teenager glanced up at his father and Alana who was raising her eyebrow at him. "I don't want to be locked away with a bunch of kids." He confided in the woman, not really daring to look his father because they'd already had a conversation similar to this. He hated being grouped up with the children, because he saw himself as an adult, as being more capable of protecting himself than those children were. "I need you in there keeping an eye on Judith and everybody else. Making sure they're safe," Rick explained to him as he made himself on the same level as his son, giving him a job, a level of authority over the other children. "If anyone gets sick, you let Alana or I know."

Rick's words made Alana look down at her feet that were sobered by the shitkickers that Michonne had given her. She hadn't told Rick about her plan to go with Daryl's group on the run. She was trying to put it off as long as she could to give Rick little time to talk her out of it. "What if they've already turned when. I find them?" Carl asked Rick as he picked up his pistol and checked the clip in it to make sure it was full. "You don't fire unless you absolutely need to." Rick told him as he tried to get his point across to the boy. He didn't get to just shoot whoever. Just because the person got sick didn't mean they were going to die. "But you know I might need to, right?" Carl asked his father as Rick reluctantly nodded his head and Alana watched as the teenager walked away from them.

Once Carl was out of her field of view, Alana went to look back at Rick only to find him not standing across from her. She turned towards Carl's cell and found Rick sitting on the bottom bunk with his hands cradling his head. She knew that everything that had happened was weighing on Rick and she could only imagine what was going through his head. She knew that he was beating himself up because of every person who had died or gotten sick. She moved slowly into the cell and knelt down in front of him, pulling his hands away from his face, grasping them in her own hands which looked really dwarfed when compared to his. "What's going on in that head of yours, Sheriff?" She whispered quietly as Rick looked at her with horrible pain etched across his face. He looked so broken in front of her, gripping her hands like she was his lifeline. "What if I can't save them? What if they all die because I wasn't strong enough?" He asked her as she pulled her hands away from his grasp and brought her hands up to cradle his scuff covered cheeks. "These people's deaths in D were not your fault. You aren't the leader anymore, you are a member of this group just like anyone else. Don't blame yourself for something you couldn't have known was coming." Alana made sure that Rick was looking right at her as she spoke to him. She moved in between his bent legs, resting her elbows on his thighs, bringing his forehead down to rest on hers. She knew that she had to tell Rick about going on the run with Daryl's group but she didn't want to make him anymore upset.

She took a deep breath and decided to tell him before she managed to talk herself out of it. "I'm going on the medicine run with Daryl." She told him bluntly as he clenched his eyes closed. Why? was all that he got out before he pulled her hands away from his face, holding her at a distance from him. His face screamed why are you doing this to me? "Because of Sam. Because it is what you would do if I were sick or if Carl or Judith were sick. I am doing this because I need to prove to myself that I can do this on my own, without depending on you to keep me safe," She explained to him as he shook his head at her, obviously not liking the idea of her going outside the fences. "This morning when you and Tyreese were fighting, all I could see was Joe and his group settling disagreements. They'd beat the person to death that crossed them and all I could see when I looked at you two was that. I looked in your eyes and I saw Joe. I know that you could never hurt me, but the look in your eyes made me so afraid. I don't want to ever feel afraid around you, because I know that you would never do what they did to me. I need to get away from this place for even just a little bit to clear my head, to prove to myself that I am not crazy." The look on Rick's face once she told him how she had seen Joe in his crazed eyes when he kept yelling _let go of me_ at Daryl that morning dropped drastically. He looked as if someone had sucker punched him in the gut and that wasn't what she wanted to accomplish by telling him that. Alana took it upon herself to crawl up into Rick's lap with her legs on either side of his hips, wrapping her arms around his neck as she rested her forehead against his. Rick's hands wandered to her hips, holding her close to his body. "Do not blame what I saw on you. It's my head that did it. You couldn't have known a fight would have broken out and you couldn't have known that it would make me see them. I do not blame you, Sheriff." She affectionately whispered to him as she pressed kisses along his face: his temples, forehead, cheekbones, jawline, neck, and lastly his lips. He got caught up in the kisses that Alana was peppering him with and brought his hands up around her back, burying his hands in her wavy blonde hair. "I don't want you to worry about me on that run. Daryl won't let anything bad happen to me, plus Michonne likes me too much to let any Walkers eat me." She joked with her lips millimeters from his. Rick chuckled breathily at her joke and moved his head away from her to bury his face in her hair, to hold her close one last time before she left.

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><p>Alana made her way down towards where Daryl and Michonne stood by the hood of the Dodge Camaro parked just inside the gates, ready to be taken out into the big bad world beyond them. She tossed her supplies into the backseat of the Camaro, adjusting the belt that Rick had given her that was being weighed down by the machete that Rick had gifted her with. She moved up towards the pair that congregated by the open hood and leaned with her butt resting against the car between Michonne and Daryl. "Son of a bitch is about a quart low." Daryl remarked as he looked up at Alana and Michonne who asked him if they still kept the gas in tower three. Michonne went to go and get said gas but was interrupted by Daryl's low timbre. "Hey. I'm glad you're here." He said to her which made both her and Alana raise their eyebrows at the dirt covered hunter. "Where else would I be?" Michonne asked the man as Alana looked to Daryl to see exactly what his answer was. Running off was his response and that didn't sit well with Michonne. "You know I'm not running off." Michonne told him as he nodded his head at her and they both dropped the subject. <em>Only these two could do that<em>. Alana thought to herself. _Only these two could bring up a subject that would make any other person extremely angry and just drop it like it was absolutely nothing._ "So it's just gonna be me and you like the old days?" Michonne asked Daryl as Alana took her opportunity to speak up and offer her two cents. "And me. I'm coming along." Michonne and Daryl both gave her looks that basically asked if Rick had approved of it which made Alana a little mad. "Ok, just because I am in a relationship with the man doesn't mean I need to make sure my every move is okayed by him which I did get mind you. So let's drop the subject." Both of them nodded their heads at him and moved back to prepping the vehicle. "And Bob. Still, feels like we could use another person." Daryl commented as both Michonne and Alana nodded their heads in agreement with him. "Who else isn't sick?" Michonne asked him as Alana knew who he'd suggest first. Rick. But she also knew that Daryl thought similarly to her when it came to the man. "We don't ask Rick. He wants to stay here Carl and Little Ass-Kicker. Keep them safe. Plus there's plenty of stuff he could do here." She wanted to smile so widely at Daryl's nickname for Judith and the mere fact that he didn't expect Rick to be superman and save the day, not like the rest of them seemed to. "So who else we got?" Michonne asked as Daryl looked over at Alana and she gave him the most exaggerated look she could give him because she knew who he was thinking of. Tyreese. Because he would be fit for a run. He wasn't in the right state of mind to go on a run. But whatever Daryl wanted to do.

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><p>Alana followed behind Daryl as he made his way to the cell block A where all the sick were being held and she wanted to comment on how insane this was but she also knew that he wouldn't listen to her. Alana glanced at his leather vest covered back and glared silently at the stubborn man. They shouldn't have even been considering letting Tyreese on this run. Alana knew that he would be reckless, his mind wasn't thinking straight. When they reached cell block A, they were greeted by Tyreese standing guard outside, peering into the area. "Oh, there you are. Took me damn near forever to find you. Whatcha doing?" Daryl asked as Tyreese turned towards the pair, his eyes drifting over to Alana who narrowed her eyes at him, still ticked about him insinuating that Rick was okay with the cold blooded murders of Karen and David. "Somebody needs to stand watch." He replied as Alana scoffed at him. Like anyone would try to kill all those people in there putting themselves at risk of getting the illness. "Man, I want to find them, too. Put a bolt in them for what they did," Daryl told Tyreese and Alana believed every word that he spoke. Daryl wasn't a person to say things that he didn't mean. He went through with his promises. Faint coughing coming from inside the cell block caught all of their attentions momentarily before Daryl continued to speak. "These people are cut off. Ain't no way anyone's getting in and out without a whole bunch of people seeing 'em." But Daryl's words didn't assure Tyreese of Sasha's safety and the other man told them that he wasn't leaving that spot. "Standing guard ain't gonna do no good unless we come back with them meds. All right. We're gassing up by the front gate in case you change your mind." As the pair walked away from Tyreese, Alana leaned in towards the hunter and whispered, "That went as well as I told you it would." Daryl scoffed at her and lightly shoved her shoulder a little before laying his arm across her shoulders. "Yeah, went about as well as it would if it were Rick in there and you standing guard, or the other way around." He teased her. She knew that both Rick and she were as stubborn as they got and that he was very right about not being able to get them away from the other if they were in Sasha and Tyreese's situation.<p>

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><p>Alana glanced up from her spot leaning against the Camaro when she heard footsteps approaching where she and Daryl were hanging out. Her gaze fell on Bob walking up with the gas canisters. She heard Daryl slam the hood and move towards where she was. "Everything look all right?" Bob asked the pair as Daryl reached inside the driver's side window for something and Alana decided to poke the man where his shirt slightly pulled up revealing a strip of skin, which made Daryl jump slightly at the unwanted touch and scowl at her before he brought his arm around her neck, promptly giving her a nuggie until she was begging him to stop. "Yeah. Zack kept this thing running pretty good." Daryl responded as Alana playfully punched him in the shoulder and tried to tame the mess Daryl had made of her hair. "This is Zack's car?" Bob asked with a lump in his throat that Alana caught making her eye the man curiously. "Yeah, fastest one we got," Daryl said as he glanced over at Bob and saw him staring at the car with an unreadable expression on his face. "You all right?" Bob moved his gaze from the car to Alana momentarily before finally setting it on Daryl who was standing a few feet from the man with his hip cocked out. Alana wanted to laugh because all she could picture in that moment was Daryl placing his hands on his hips like a disapproving mother. "You really want me coming along?" Bob asked as Daryl patted his pants, looking for something before he reached into his back pants pocket, pulling out some sort of piece of paper. He unfolded it and brought it closer to Bob's face before he pointed at the first word written on the paper. The list Hershel gave him. Alana realized as she peered at the paper but couldn't make sense of the big words written on the page. "What's that word?" Daryl asked Bob as the other man spoke the word with such ease like it was the simplest word Daryl could have asked him to pronounce. "Yep, we need you," Daryl told him as he moved to lean against the car like Alana was. More footsteps approaching caught Alana and Daryl's attention and they both looked up in time to see Tyreese walking towards them "What's up?" Daryl asked as Tyreese stopped in front of him, sparing a glance over at Alana who was still leaning against the car but now her arms were crossed just under her chest. "Still got room for one more?" Alana knew what Daryl's response would be and wasn't at all surprised when the hunter replied with a hell yeah. "Good. Just got to get my gear." Tyreese said as he went back off in the direction he came and Daryl went back to checking the car over once more.<p>

Alana went back to leaning against the car until something hit her. "Wait, does that mean I have to sit in the backseat in between those two?" The only response she got to that was a snort from Daryl which she frowned at. "You know one of these days, Daryl Dixon, you are gonna regret messing with me." She said threateningly, or at least she attempted to sound threatening but it obviously didn't come across that way. Daryl then tossed his vest at her, making the stinky piece of leather cover her face and he laughed when she threw it back at him just as fast as he had whipped it at her. "I'd like to see you try, Alana Salem."

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><p>Alana wasn't paying attention to the conversation going on in the front seats of the car. She was glaring at the back of Daryl's head for forcing her to squeeze in the back seat with Bob and Tyreese on either side of her. Of course, she knew she was the best fit for being sat between those two, seeing as she was the smallest between her and Michonne but that didn't mean she liked it. She didn't like it one bit. The crackling of the car's radio was what pulled her out of her session of glaring at Daryl. "Would you hand me one of them CDs right there?" Daryl asked Michonne as the woman opened the glove box and pulled a case of CDs out. "... find sanctuary." A voice sounded through the radio, making Alana lean forward from her spot between the two men in the back seat to get a better listen as to what the voice was saying. "Was that a voice?" Bob asked as Alana shushed him loudly at the same time that Daryl did the same thing. The voice faded a little and Daryl turned the dial trying to get it back. "...determined to survive... Keep alive." Then when they all looked up, there were a shit load of Walkers in the road. Alana was thrown back in her seat and her hands instinctively grasped the closest things to her which happened to be Tyreese and Bob's thighs. Bob gently placed his hand on top of her in a way to comfort her but she didn't want his comfort. She wanted Rick in that moment.<p>

"Grab something!" Daryl yelled as he tried to bob and weave in between the Walkers that riddled the road. "Go to the left." Michonne suggested as Daryl veered to the left only to find them in the middle of a horde of Walkers. Daryl tried to back up and he succeeded for a short while until the Walkers piled up underneath the car preventing it from moving in any direction. "We're jammed up. Make a run for the gaps right there," Daryl looked back at Alana who was staring at him in absolute horror. "You three, you make a run for the woods and you don't stop for nothing, you hear me? Now! Move!" Alana just acted in that moment, she didn't think. She followed Bob out of the car and pulled her machete out, hacking into the nearest Walker to her, trying to find her way over to Daryl, someone she knew she could trust. She heard Bob yelling for Tyreese and she turned around slightly to see that he hadn't even made his way out of the car yet. "TYREESE!" Alana yelled at the top of her lungs as she kicked a Walker away from her to watch as Tyreese moved out from the car and started slamming his hammer into the heads of every Walker that moved towards him. Go! he yelled at Bob and Alana as he became swarmed by the Walkers. Alana didn't want to leave him. He didn't deserve to die in such a way. Bob grabbed ahold of her arm and pulled her away from the horde of Walkers surrounding Tyreese towards where Daryl and Michonne had run to, the treeline. Alana grabbed a hold of Bob's arm with both of her hands and she looked at him through tear filled eyes. "We can't just leave him." She pleaded with him but he just shook his head. Tyreese had sacrificed himself so that they could survive and that was what they needed to do. The two of them ran through the forest, hacking into any Walker that came close to them, stopping only slightly to listen for the sounds of Daryl's crossbow and Michonne's katana. They rushed into a clearing to find Daryl and Michonne there, ready to attack them had they been Walkers. "Come on," Daryl said as he reached forward and grabbed ahold of Alana's arm bringing them both further into the clearing before he turned back towards the way he came and loaded up his crossbow. "Hold up." He said to all of them as he raised his crossbow towards the rustling leaves and was about to shoot the Walker that made its way out from under them but stopped when Tyreese emerged, taking out the Walker, falling to his knees in exhaustion. "Come on." Daryl said as he rushed forward grabbing one of Tyreese's shoulders bringing him up to his feet. Alana ran over to let the man lean on her, just glad that he was alive as they started their fight for their lives.

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><p><strong>There it is! Chapter Three! Next chapter is gonna be fun! So originally I was gonna have Alana stay back and go on the run with Rick and Carol but the story kinda changed my mind and I thought Alana should really go with Daryl and them! Tell me what you guys think of this! I don't have any idea when the next chapter will be up. This next week for me is spring break and my family and I are going to Utah and Arizona for our trip and I cannot bring my laptop with me so I have no idea when I will be able to write for the next chapter but I will try to get you up a preview as soon as I possibly can! Thank you guys so much for reading! Until the next chapter!<strong>

**itsYOUiSEVER or Kayla ;)**


	6. Chapter 4 Preview

**Author's Note: **

**Thank you guys so much for favoriting/reviewing/following my story! So here's the thing. I decided to take a little different approach with this chapter. I am writing both what Alana and Daryl's group encounter and what Rick and Carol encounter so there is gonna be a lot of switching between scenes (between the two groups) like in the "Indifference" episode. I was debating giving you guys just a chapter of Alana's past or showing you guys her dad, but I'll let you guys decide. What do you guys want to see from Alana's past? Tell me what you want to learn about Alana in the reviews for this preview and the next chapter after this full chapter will be a little glimpse into her past, or I may just include a little section in the next chapter of her past, depends on exactly how much I end up writing for the flashback. **

**Another thing, this whole episode is really choppy, so the scenes will be kind of sorter I guess but I will see what I can do. Also season five is gonna be fun because well, stuff! New characters and new points of view! **

_**Hope and love:** The way I write big monologues or just scenes where people have multiple lines in a row with either other people's reactions to their words or just actions in between the line, I use a comma at the end of the quotation. I have seen other writers do that. Like with Rick's big speech in the mid season finale of the fourth season. I would use a couple sentences then sort of "interrupt" the monologue to show reactions and stuff like that but to show that it is the same speaker talking I end the quotation with a comma to signify that. Let me know if you still get confused and I'll see what I can do to fix it._

**WELL! Leave a review below of what you would like to see from Alana's past and I will see what I can do!**

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><p><strong>The Road<strong>

_**Chapter | Four ~ Preview**_

Alana slowly unbuttoned her blood-drenched long sleeve shirt, peeling the fabric away from her pale, slightly redden skin irritated from the stickiness which left her standing in a pinkened wife beater that the blood had seeped onto. She tossed the shirt to the side, knowing it was of no use to her anymore. Another of Rick's shirts ruined. She then looked over her lower body, checking her weapon's belt, making sure that her pistol had a full clip in it, you know just in case, and inspecting Rick's machete, wiping the blood covered blade on her jeans. She slipped the bladed weapon back into its sheath on her belt and pulled the hairband from its spot around her wrist, twisting and gathering her hair up into a messy ponytail at about the middle of the back of her head, similar to ones that she had seen Beth do to her own hair. Truth be told, Alana never really knew how to put her hair up in a ponytail, she knew how to braid and stuff like that but she'd skipped the ponytail day of her girl puberty. Plus as a child, her father had thought it'd be easier just to keep Alana's hair above her shoulders, getting rid of the whole ponytail issue. Alana was stood a few feet away from the group discussing their game plan, which was find transportation and she half paid attention to the attention was focused on the large man crouching near the creek, ringing out his drenched shirt free of blood, grime and gore.

She was watching him one second and the next, she had Daryl standing next to her, calling down to Tyreese. "Yo, Ty. Come on, let's go," Daryl then looked over at Alana who shrugged her shoulders at him. All she wanted to do was find a safe place where they weren't constantly under threat of a Walker attack but then again those places barely existed those days anyway. "Vámanos." Daryl swung his arm upwards, signalling to the other man to follow them. He then folded up the map in his hands and shoved it into his man purse. Okay, it was a satchel but Alana liked calling it a man purse. Michonne and Daryl began to head down the path leading off the bridge while Bob and Alana stay and wait for Tyreese to emerge from his mud hole. Tyreese barely spared Daryl a glance when the hunter tried to get his attention. "Ty. Ty!" Bob yelled as he checked the clip in his pistol, quickly shoving it back into place. "There should be a town a few miles south." This got Tyreese's attention somehow because he actually spoke to the pair. "Lost a whole night. My sister, everybody else- they're probably dead." Tyreese said solemnly as both Alana and Bob looked at each other to see if the other had any ideas on how to respond to this man. There wasn't really any one way to respond to his words. All of the replies that Alana came up with just felt wrong. "Well, it helps to keep moving." Bob finally stated and Alana wanted to attack hug the man for not making her respond to that morbid statement. "No. It doesn't." Tyreese snapped angrily as he shook his shirt out and began to walk back up the embankment. Bob and Alana exchanged one more look of pure terror before heading off after the man. Alana just knew someone was gonna be getting hurt on this run.

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><p>Rick regretted telling Alana it was okay for her to go on that run. At least if she hasn't gone, she'd be with him at this moment and not a woman who he had just found out had killed two of their people in cold blood. The car ride was agonizing to say the least. For a good forty minutes of driving, both of them had been completely silent, that was until Carol decided to talk. "Maggie wanted to come, you know." She commented. Rick didn't want her to come along because well he didn't trust Carol at that prison with all those sick people. "Someone had to stay back, watch over things." He told her calmly, trying not to show the fact that he wasn't really taking her on the run for her skills. "Someone you trust, you mean," Carol said as Rick raised his hand up to his face and ran his fingers through his slicked back curls. "They would have drowned in their own blood. They were suffering. I made it quick," What really made Rick queasy was how easily she talked about what she had done. Like their deaths were no big deal at all. "We needed the bodies gone. We needed to stop it from spreading. They were the only ones who were sick. They were a threat. I was trying to save lives. I had to try. Someone had to." In a twisted sort of way, Carol made some sense. Her actions were done to keep those who weren't sick safe and she thought that burning the bodies would prevent that from spreading. But who was she to decide who lived and died. They could've survived it. They could've been fine but she chose if they lived or died for them. Rick kept his eyes on the road and he knew what he had to do to keep his family, the people at that prison safe.<p>

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><p>Alana walked alongside Daryl and Michonne on the gravelled path with Bob not far behind the trio and Tyreese bringing up the rear. Alana had put her machete away but her hand still lingered on its handle ready to pull it out at any second. Whether that be to use it on a Walker or another human being, she was ready to swiftly unsheath her weapon and shove it through whatever attacked her's eye socket. She almost tripped over Daryl when he decided to stop in the middle of the path, crouch down and play with some rocks. Her knee connected with the hunter's crossbow which was draped across his back and Alana glared down at the stupid hick for picking that moment to look at the scenery. "Is that jasper?" Michonne asked Daryl as he cleaned off his pebble of choice by licking his fingers, brushing the dirt and grime off it. It was pretty, Alana had to admit but she didn't see the significance of it at all. It wasn't worth losing valuable time. Daryl gave Michonne a grunt of confirmation which made Alana chuckle a little because that was how Daryl communicated 90% of the time, in grunts and growls. "It's a good color. Brings out your eyes." Michonne joked as Daryl gazed up at her to see the huge shit-eating grin on her face. Daryl shook his head, silently laughing at the sword-wielding woman's antics and slowly stood back up, rolling the small pebble of jasper in his hand. "When Miss Richards went into A block, we were leaving. Asked me to keep a lookout. I'm gonna use it for her old man's marker." Daryl told them almost sheepishly and Alana understood his apprehensiveness. He was supposed to be their hunter, emotions weren't normally a part of that package but Daryl held more emotions than they all did combined. He felt emotions deeply but he rarely let those emotions surface.<p>

"You know all them back there?" Michonne asked him, impressed that he had managed to do that. Alana wasn't surprised though. Outwardly, Daryl was abrasive but inwardly, she knew that he liked those people back at the prison. They were good people and Daryl knew the difference between good and bad people. Daryl was an observer, a bystander who say and witnessed everything that went on around that prison. It wasn't a surprise that he knew all those people. "You stay in one place more than a couple hours, you'd be surprised what you pick up." Daryl jabbed. Alana knew that this was pointed at Michonne for always going out to look for the Governor. He was saying that she'd feel the lose that they all felt if she had just taken the time to be around those people. When Michonne made no move to respond, Daryl started moving again and Alana followed right behind him, watching the hunter's body language, seeing the tension in his shoulders. Daryl moved his crossbow from its spot against his back and held the weapon in his hands, like it was a part of his body, like it was natural. Alana pulled her machete out and followed closely behind Daryl ready to run into battle with him if that meant that they'd get the medicine for those who were sick.

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><p>Rick pulled the SUV to a stop in the cul-da-sac just behind a seemingly abandoned car and both he and Carol slowly and apprehensively got out of their car, weapons at the ready. Rick slowly made his way towards the driver's side of the abandoned car and immediately thought of Alana when he saw the words Pardon Our Dust smudged on the window of the car. It was something she'd do. "Think they're coming back?" Carol asked him as he pulled the driver's side door open and grabbed the keys from the ignition. "Windshield's clean, wiped down. Can't have been here more than a day, maybe two." Rick said as he sized up the car up, looking at the contents of the trunk of the car. "You mean Daryl and the others. That's what this is right? In case they don't?" Carol stated as Rick moved back to their car and pulled both of them out backpacks and black garbage bags. "Until they do. That's what this is," Rick expressly told her, not liking one bit that she insinuated that Alana and her group wouldn't make it back. He didn't need that thought in his mind. He needed to think that she'd survive. To keep himself sane because he didn't know what he'd do if she didn't make it back. "Medicine cabinets, first aid kits- anything that could help Hershel. We get in, we get out. And if we can eat it, we take it." Rick slipped his arm through one of the straps of his backpack, bending down to pick up the black garbage bag before he made his way towards one of the houses with Carol not far behind him. Alana was coming back. He knew she was. She was strong and stubborn. She wouldn't go down without putting up one hell of a fight.<p>

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><p>At some point in their trek, everyone switched places. Daryl and Alana were bringing up the rear with Bob just ahead of them and Michonne and Tyreese leading their charge. The first thing that Alana noticed about the place they were approaching was the sign for Big Tony's Express Mart. The numbers for the unleaded gas were turned upside down and backwards clearly spelling out HELL. Alana was prepared to look further down the sign at the diesel price to find the numbers 666 there. The sound of rustling of leaves caught her attention and she turned her body so that she was face the forest they had just gotten out of with her machete gripped tightly in her hand. "You see something?" Bob asked both Alana and Daryl who had reacted the same way to the sound coming from the forest. Daryl had relaxed when nothing charged out at them but Alana still held her machete in her hand not wanting to let her guard down. "I don't know. Maybe." Daryl replied quietly as he placed his hand between Alana's shoulder blades urging her to move forward with the rest of the group.<p>

A glisten from something underneath the wall of ivy caught Alana's eye. "Daryl." She whispered to him as she pointed towards the glimmer and the hunter took the risk of possibly getting bitten, yanking and pulling on the ivy. The plants groaned and snapped under the strength that Daryl exerted on them. Alana moved forward and began hacking at the vines with her machete, making it a little easier to get to whatever was underneath. Alana almost screamed for joy when they had managed to get enough of the ivy away from the shining object and found that someone had stowed a van there. She turned towards Daryl and grinned widely at him as the hunter laid his arm over her shoulder and quietly called out to their group who had wandered a little bit ahead of them. "Look what Twinkle Toes found." Daryl joked as Alana pinched his side and relished in the fact that something had gone their way that day. Daryl moved around Alana and pried open the driver's side door. Alana could hear him ripping the plastic case that covered the wires under the steering wheel out and a few seconds later heard a string of curses flow out of Daryl's mouth. It was funny how natural those words sounded coming from his mouth but if it were Rick letting out all those words, Alana would raise an eyebrow at the man. "We gotta find us a new battery." Daryl told them as he got back out of the van and moved towards a window looking inside the express mart. He spit into his hand and went to wipe the dirt and dust away to get a better look at what was inside, only to be met with the snarling, decaying face of a Walker.

"Got some friends inside. Come on. Let's clear a path. See how many we got." Daryl said briskly as he moved to the front of the ivy covered building and began cutting down vines to get through to the front doors. Alana placed herself between Michonne and Daryl because truth be told that was where she felt most comfortable. She was still very leery of Tyreese and Bob just didn't sit right with her. She chopped at the vines in front of her and turned her attention down to where Tyreese was relentlessly hacking at the vines with his machete. It was like he was in a trance. "Hey, man, go easy. We don't know what we're dealing with." Daryl warned the other man but he didn't listen. He kept hacking away and grunted in frustration when his machete got stuck on something. He yanked at his machete trying to free it from whatever it was caught on and when he pulled it out, there were wires wrapped around the curved tip of his weapon.

The next thing Alana knew, a decaying hand reached out from behind the vines and grasped onto the front of her tank top. She responded in the only way she knew how to in the situation, she screamed. Which probably wasn't the best idea at the time but she was scared. Michonne swiftly severed the hand that was holding onto Alana and Daryl pulled her away from the mess. She watched as another Walker emerged from the vines, only being able to get halfway out before getting caught on the vines. It snapped its teeth and flailed its arms at Bob but didn't get anywhere near the man because Michonne sliced the top of its head off. The last Walker came right for Tyreese and he didn't seem to be putting up much of a fight against it. Tyreese pulled the Walker out from the vines and to Alana it looked like he was trying to wrestle with the gruesome creature. Everyone in the group except for Alana called out for Tyreese, told him to just let the thing go and Alana just stood there quietly watching as the Walker managed to make Tyreese lose his balance and fall flat on his back with the Walker above him snapping its teeth at him. Daryl quickly moved forward and pulled the Walker off of Tyreese, taking a few steps back from the creature before Bob shot it straight through its forehead. "Why the hell didn't you let go?" Michonne yelled at Tyreese but the man just walked away from the katana wielding woman.

Alana stood still and just let herself think. It was Tyreese who had opened that building. The Walker who had almost taken a bite out of her and the one that had almost gotten Bob, they had gotten out because of Tyreese. His recklessness could have gotten one of them killed or bit. Alana didn't really know what she was doing until she moved right in front of Tyreese and raised her fist. A lot of times people say that punching someone ends up hurting you more than it hurts them. Well in that moment Alana sure as hell hoped that her punch had hurt Tyreese more than it hurt her. She was pretty proud of herself for being able to knock a grown man to his knees with one punch. She bent down so that her mouth was level with his ear and whispered, "Get your shit together" before walking off to see what the rest of the group had decided to do about the van not starting. _That was for Rick_. She thought to herself. _And for me._

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><p><strong>There it is the preview for Chapter Four! I have one more question for you guys! I am thinking of starting a collection of one shots for Alana and Rick that have nothing to do with the Zombie Apocalypse. Would you guys be interested in reading those? I have like eight ideas in my head for one shots. Here are the titles of said one shots<strong>.

_**Partake in Holy Matrimony**_

_**- Kind of self explanatory**_

_**Honeymoon + Judy**_

_**- Judith joins Rick and Alana on their honeymoon and gets to ride on a plane for the first time.**_

_**Laney, when is Daddy gonna give you a baby?**_

_**- Judith wonders why Rick and Alana haven't made a baby yet like Ella's mommy and daddy did when they got married.**_

_**Laney, why is Daddy sleeping on the floor?**_

_**- Nothing like causing your new husband to faint.**_

_**Daddy, Laney ate the baby!**_

_**- Rick and Alana decide to take Judith with them to the baby's ultrasound.**_

_**Daryl Dixon and the Adventures of Babysitting**_

_**- Alana asks Daryl to babysit Judith and baby Andy.**_

_**Daddy make Andy be quiet.**_

_**- Andy wakes Judith with his crying**_

_**Girls Night, No Boys Allowed (That Means You Too Daddy)**_

_**- Alana and Judith are having girls only night and Rick keeps trying to sneak his way in**_

**Let me know if you guys would like to read than! The full chapter four should be up within a week I hope you guys really like this because I love writing it! Until the next chapter, ByeBye**


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